A/N:

So I decided to go the crossover route! I hope everyone likes 7 and 8 :D

Special thanks to ObsessiveCompulsiveValkyrie who is generously beta-ing this for me. Thankyouthankyouthankyou!

...OH! Disclaimer: I do not own either FF7 or FF8...or any other FF titles in general. Plot is mine.


The wind caught the air easily and dragged it through the tiny blades of grass and yellow flowers scattered across the field. He watched carefully, icy eyes stiff on the landscape, but his face became soft as he looked over to his side. She's so carefree. He moved closer and stopped to sit down next to her, his hands feeling the edges of grass grazing his callused skin. "You like it here?"

The girl giggled and flicked back her dark black hair, "That's a silly question." She dropped onto the ground, letting her smooth hair become messy in the dirt. Her pale face turned to the left to face him, "It's been three months since I found you here."

He didn't speak, not exactly sure what she was getting at.

"Three months of us."

This caught his attention. The boy grabbed her hand, wanting a connection but not knowing exactly what to say.

She rested her head in her hands, flipping onto her stomach. Her melodic laugh filled the area, "I always knew you would like me."

"What makes you say that?"

She shrugged, "How you were always so cold…I was destined to open you up." The girl gently rubbed his light brown hair. "Come on!" The girl pulled his reluctant figure up, dragging him around the field, "You work too hard sometimes, always leading…aren't you tired of it?"

A little. But I have to do it. He simply shrugged, "I don't mind."

"But I do!" The girl's brown eyes became frustrated as she heard the slight ring from the boy's pocket.

He held up one finger, telling her to wait a moment. "Hello?" His blue eyes glanced to the girl, "Yeah, she's here with me. Yes, sir. We will report there immediately."

She fumbled through the dishes, collecting the empty mugs and leftover cereal bowls. A bit of milk spilled on the wooden floor as she shuffled the porcelain dishware to the sink. The brunette sighed, pushed back her dark brown bangs, and brought out the wet rag. The stain soon left the floor, and she proceeded back to washing the left over dishes. The mutterings of footsteps drew her attention away from the daily chore. An unforced smile soon formed on her face as she watched the blonde travel into the room, head down, looking incredibly preoccupied in his own thoughts. "Hi," she said softly, her voice warm and gentle.

The blonde looked up and gave her a partially friendly expression. "Hey." He took an empty mug from the cupboard and poured a stream of hot water from the kettle. The black tea bag was gently dipped into the warm liquid. "Where are the kids?"

"Playing outside." She continued scrubbing at the bowl, wondering what kind of cereal could possibly stick to the outer rim like that. Her chest began to get heavy. It always did when he was in the room with her. "You have a lot of deliveries today?"

"Not really." He sat down at the small kitchen table, "Only two in Kalm."

The proximity of his destination got her a little excited. "So you should be back early? Before five?"

"…Yeah. You're opening the bar early?"

She nodded and placed the dishes on the side drying rack, watching the cool water drip from the bowls and run back into the sink, "Yeah." She couldn't look at him too much. She would have liked to, but she couldn't. It wasn't helpful. There was no point. "There having a little WRO celebration here."

"Oh?" The blonde kept sipping his tea. She felt his light blue eyes on her frame.

"Yeah, shouldn't be anything too out of the ordinary. It might just be a little crowded. I could use some help."

He gave a light smile, "Of course. I'll be here to help you."

Her face immediately became warm from his words. She ran her cold, wet hands against her cheekbones, a sad attempt at masking the imminent flush.

"Our help?"

The taller figure turned back to the girl and grabbed her hand. The wind seemed to increase its speed as they walked through the field, back to the car they managed to 'borrow' a week before. "Yeah…he said it was urgent."

He felt his arm suddenly lunge back as the girl stopped, her hand still clamped to his own. "Be nicer than that."

"…What?"

But she didn't fall for his seemingly indifferent expression. She pulled him closer to her, lips making a small pout. "Don't pretend you don't know! You need to be nice to him. Especially because…he is your…"

"Like you're any nicer to yours?" He shook his head. She doesn't know anything about me and him. The thought only made his voice rougher. "You aren't exactly one to talk."

He felt the weight of her hand release as her arm fell back to her side. "I just know what it's like to have such a bad relationship like that. I don't want you to either."

"Whatever." He glanced down to her face, wondering if that word had any effect on her. The girl didn't look up. "Let's just go. I'll talk to him."

The sudden weight of her small body almost threw him off balance. His leather military boots dug deep into the fertile soil around him. "I knew you would," She headed directly to the car, reaching back for his hand.

­­

The little girl's feet only skimmed the surface of the hardwood floor, not yet long enough to get a full grip on the surface. "He's coming back soon though, isn't he?"

"He's just talking with Cid. They need to work out how much the workers are going to get paid." The blonde was still drinking his tea, and his focus darted from the small delivery slips to the two children across from him. "It's hard nowadays. People need money but your dad doesn't exactly have any to offer them. But we need the oil soon if we want this economy to get back on track."

The little girl blinked and grabbed her braid from behind her back. Her hands trailed down the glossy twisted hair, seemingly upset. "Oh... Well I just hope he gets back soon!"

"You don't like it here?" The boy next to her asked. He took a bite of the apple handed to him from the older brunette.

She shook her head. "I just miss my papa."

"I know, sweetie." The older woman gently patted her hair and sat down next to her and the man. "But until he comes back, we'll be your family. Right?" Her gaze went from the girl back to the blonde.

He smiled and gave a slight nod, not as comfortable with the statement as she was. "I'm gonna get going." He rummaged through his pockets and withdrew his goggles.

The boy spoke up, "Will you be gone long?"

"Back before dinner. Be good." The chair squeaked as he shifted from his sitting position to standing. The spikes of light yellow were still ruffled chaotically, but the speeding wind on the road would soon fix that.

Her reddish brown eyes watched him get up, watched as he put his mug in the sink and gave the two children a light wave from his glove hand. She watched that same hand awkwardly fall behind his neck, scratching his light blonde hair aggressively. She watched him jingle his keys in his palm and the soft smile form on his face as he thought of the upcoming ride. She watched him leave for the hundredth time, neither of them saying a word.

"Quistis? Zell? Selphie?" His blue eyes took in the three people, a little shocked.

"Quistis! Zell! Selphie!" She ran up to them quickly as they entered the modernized building. Her black hair flew up as she embraced them all individually. "How are you guys?"

"Rinoa, it's only been a week." Quistis let her strawberry blonde bangs fall in front of her rounded glasses. "I'm assuming you and Squall got the same message?"

Selphie giggled from behind the taller girl. "Hehe, I hope it didn't ruin your vacation." She winked at Rinoa who just smiled back. "Oh! And if you're wondering, Irvine here's too. He's in there." The petite girl pointed back towards the tall, majestic doors behind her.

"Then why are you guys out here?" He moved up towards his fellow SeeDs and next to Rinoa.

Zell was the one who responded. "Waiting for you! Ellone told us to wait until you both got here. Irvine just wanted to sit down. Let's go!"

Ellone? Of course she's here too. Squall wasn't eager to move, but he noticed the four others around him were not about to step forward. He inwardly sighed and shifted his light brown bangs back before opening the doors to the office.

Esthar always looked different than the other cities and places he had been to. It was the most scientifically advanced area in the world, the city glowing when not shielded from the naked eye altogether. Squall felt uncomfortable, but he knew that wasn't solely based on the physical environment. He glanced to the right and left and then to the center of the room. A man was sitting there, looking a little too happy, almost comical for a person in such a seat of power.

"Squall!" The man sat up immediately and headed for the teenage boy.

Squall felt his body stiffen then become perfectly stolid as the man hugged him affectionately. "…President Loire."

The formal tone made the president relinquish his grip. He stepped back and gave the younger boy a subdued glare. "Straight to business, huh? I suppose I shouldn't be surprised.

There were four other people in the room. Two of them were the president's old friends, one was a close member of Squall's old group, and the last person, a girl, was stepping up now, next to the president. He coughed briefly and loosely bent his leg. "You know how important advancement is to Esthar."

They all nodded. This was not new information to any of them.

"It's becoming…inefficient to be using our current energy sources, so it was suggested I give funds to research alternatives. After you guys took care of Sorceress Ultimecia, they were able to rebuild the Lunar Base and refocus on gathering a new energy source for Esthar. He smiled, almost childishly. "And they found it.

"We don't know exactly what it is or where it comes from. But the scientist's on the newly built base detected it using very sensitive material."

Squall straightened his back, "Sir, you do not know where this energy comes from?"

"It's from another planet." President Loire looked around at the teenagers in front of him. "That's where I need you guys."

The girls' eyes widened at his previous sentence. "You need us to go to space?" Rinoa gasped, "To another planet?"

"It's perfectly habitable!" Ellone piped up. "It can support life, and it only should take a couple of days to get there with the newest space technology."

Irvine tipped his cowboy hat back and sauntered next to Selphie, "And we have to check it out?"

"We might be able to reproduce it if you bring a sample back." Ellone smiled. "And there might be civilization there, already harvesting it. Any technology on how they use it will be beneficial to keeping Esthar in power."

Squall simply nodded. "When do we start?'

"Well…um," President Loire scratched his head. "As soon as possible, I guess? I have already cleared it with Headmaster Cid." He turned to the side, "Ellone? You'll go?"

She nodded and adjusted her shawl wrapped around her elbows. "Let's go. We'll head to the space station immediately."

Ellone walked them down the connecting hallway, leading them to the ship that would take them up into space. Rinoa moved to the front, connecting her arm with Squall's, "This is kind of exciting, isn't it?"

Squall shrugged. "It's a job."

"I know, but a new planet? There could be aliens or something."

The girl in the yellow dress behind her made a slight squeal. "You think so? You don't think they could be…dangerous, do they?"

"We're SeeDs, Selphie. We're trained for combat." Squall didn't have any GFs though. They must want us to fight…Laguna must think some fighting may be necessary if he's sending us and not scientists. His hand tapped the girl in front of him."Ellone?"

The older girl stopped walking and turned to face Squall. "What is it, Squall?"

"We need our weapons and GFs."

"Probably some recovery items too." Quistis added from the back of the group.

Ellone nodded. "We had Garden send those over." She pointed to the room at the end of the wall. "They're in there, along with your transport."

Squall was the first to walk forward. He turned back to the others, knowing they looked up to him as a leader, that they were his team. "Ready?" There seemed to be some reluctance from the faces in front of him.

"Hey!" Rinoa ran up and faced the group next to Squall. "Even if there is some kind of advanced life on that planet, no one's ever been through the kind of stuff we have."

"That's right!" Zell punched the air and his surroundings. "We could take them!"

There better not be anything. Squall turned around and opened the door. The connecting room had a glass ceiling and a large ship docked at the end. Night had fallen, and the stars arrived, offering miniscule lighting. Squall glanced through the glass roof, up to the bright celestial lights. Which one are you? There were a million questions running through his head. Rinoa soon grabbed his hand, taking away the thoughts about his mission. "This could be easy. We're only assuming someone's there. There could be nothing."

Doubtful. But he didn't say it out loud. There was no need to ruin her optimism. "Maybe." The teenager looked back up to the sky and gave a playful smile. "Let's just hope they can't fight."

A/N:

My first attempt at a crossover! This should be fun :D I'll get working on chapter 2! Reviews are the best!

~Mira