New idea that I'd like to try out. The character here is an interesting one. Her attitude flops around a lot, too. She's different from the Cari in my other stories, too. How she happened here is... complicated. And no, I haven't forgotten about my other stories. I've just been having a combination of motivational and inspirational issues. At any rate, the basic premise of this story is the multiverse and what would happen if various characters showed up in the 'real' world. Let's start with Final Fantasy VII. That's going to be the most important fandom in this. The two showing up this episode will probably be the only ones for several episodes, by the way.

I'd really appreciate some feedback on this story, too. I don't bite, and neither do the current characters. Or you could just chat. Chatting would be really nice, too.

Episode 1: Fish Out Of Water

If I ever told anyone I felt like the universe's chew toy, they'd probably laugh and say I was overreacting. Well, they were probably onto something at least a little. I did tend to get… dramatic at times, at any rate. But really, with my life as it was, I wouldn't be surprised if I was exactly right. As it stood, right now I lived in a humiliatingly small one-bedroom apartment with my dad. I had the living room as my bedroom, which was more than just a little irritating. It wasn't so bad, I supposed. My situation could have been a thousand times worse than it was already.

Allow me to explain my little slot of time in eternity. I have never, under any delusion or stretch of the imagination, been in a position of substantial wealth of any kind. This was something I was entirely oblivious to during my early childhood. I highly doubt I was really in that well of a household during the nearly-fourteen months of foster care or the three and a half years I spent with extended family instead of my own parents. Life was not easy for someone whose parents may as well have been homeless at times. This is no exaggeration by any stretch of the imagination, either.

That was another little detail of my life. I've never spent more than four years in one house, or apartment as the case is now. Most certainly, I have returned to one house about three times, but I can't say I'm there anymore. Good riddance, too, I suppose, because I'd have probably lost my last shred of sanity if I had to go back to that isolated, backwater, heavily forested, rinky-dink town. I do, at least, think of my having moved to where I'm at now an upgrade from that. The silence was nice, but quite maddening. All I had for friends were the trees, shrubbery, and my own slightly warped imagination.

Back to the present, I'm finally getting somewhere. Money? Zilch. Job? If I had one of those, I'd have that money of which I still have none but what I can earn from helping my neighbor. I'm about twenty-one years old, and desperately clinging to whatever grant-money I have after tuition and books. This would be the near end of my first semester of community college, and I'm out of that grant money. My only hope is that estate that may get me a little more of… somewhere in life when it finally gets done. I desperately need to get out of this pathetic excuse for an apartment. The aura around me is simply way too much to cope with.

Thanksgiving has only now just passed, and things are looking pretty damn bleak for my winter break. I don't get out much, even in a larger town. A much larger town in which there is a bus system, at least a little entertainment, and—hallelujah—people! This does not mean in any way that I get out much. It's rather pathetic. I'm not even involved in any school clubs or activities. I am, in essence, a hermit. My life consists of procrastinating homework until the last minute—which has screwed me over on more than one occasion, might I add—the computer, and daily needs like eating, sleeping, and just trying to keep out of the way.

This is two days after the holiday of thanks, and my life would be turned absolutely upside down by nightfall. Thank God and all the worlds outside this one that this didn't happen on Black Friday. There's a good chance I might have committed seppuku had it started that exact day. Ok, that's an exaggeration, but it gets the point across well enough. I'll put it like this—I always believed other universes existed outside this one, but never dreamed any would actually connect with this one. I've started to wonder if I was just completely delusional and should check into a room on the hospital's second floor.

I crossed my arms and glared at the offending, half-finished essay on my computer screen. "Well, fuck you, too!" I muttered under my breath.

My temper was by no means ever under complete control. I've about given up trying to really correct that flaw at this point. And the paper I was supposed to complete for my English class for Monday was not coming along very well. Normally, I write very well. But right now, this is not the case. The stress really must have been getting to me, because for the love of God, I could barely even write a short story.

I mentally flipped it the bird and shut the laptop before standing up. The apartment made me feel claustrophobic, really. It was only at those points that I decided just to get out and walk around town. I didn't socialize, of course, my skills with that being somewhere between nil and none in my personal opinion. But I also tended to underrate myself, so I could have very easily been entirely wrong. Still, the fact that I was outside was comforting enough, so I threw on my sweater, Kingdom Hearts lanyard that jingled and jangled whenever I moved, and grabbed my oversized purse.

"I'm out," I sighed loudly enough for my dad to hopefully hear. There was a small, 'Huh?' from him, and I sighed again. "I'm headed out to walk. I'm getting claustrophobic again."

He seemed to give me his full attention—at least I'd like to think. "That's fine."

I got to the doorknob to leave before I paused. "Do we need anything from the store? I can always bring that back," I offered. Since I was headed out for a nice long while, I figured I might as well bring back groceries if we needed any.

Dad seemed to take a few moments to think. "How's our milk situation?" he asked.

With a silent, extremely dry chuckle, I sighed. "We're stocked. Anything else?"

There was another pause. "No."

Right, we had all the leftovers from Thursday, still. Of course we didn't need anything. "Then I'll see you sometime later."

Without waiting for a response, I left the apartment and the building. I didn't want him hanging me up with chatter since I'd said something first. The last thing I needed was for the closed in feeling to get even worse than it was. And the crisp autumn wind was extremely welcoming. It was an absolutely beautiful day out. Fairly dry, windy, leaves flying around from the nearby trees, and completely clouded over. Others might have said it was a miserable day with how dark the clouds were, but it fit my mood and I loved it.

And crap—I didn't have my music with me. I stormed back inside to retrieve the accursed mp3 player and left again before Dad could speak, offering a rather irritated, "I forgot something," as an explanation. At that precise moment, I was able to fully escape. Headphones completely encased my ears and the music was loud enough to drown the snapping voices down the street. I headed in the opposite direction, which was just as well. If I passed the arguing parent and child by, my mood would only get a lot worse.

The way people were these days sickened me to death. I half thought I was either born in the wrong time or the wrong world. That was probably a very large part of why I didn't like associating with actual human beings. At least, not the ones in real life. I made a few connections to people online, and I was happy with them. They were the proof I had that this world wasn't completely overrun with idiots and jerks.

I made my way down past the Chinese restaurant I lived near and made for across the tracks. My best option right now was to head down to the canal and river for a while. I'd be all the more likely to avoid irritations that way. As it was, I wasn't really in the mood to make the hike up to the trees. And the river was more or less public property. In retrospect, maybe I should have hiked up to the trees. My life would probably end up being a lot less hectic in the end if I'd done that. Then again, fate has a lovely little habit of making sure one doesn't escape its clutches. So in the end, it really didn't matter, anyway.

It really didn't take me all that long to get from the train tracks to the end of the mall downtown. Despite my actual weight, I considered myself a rather fast walker when all was said and done. I blamed that on having to try and keep up with my dad as a child or my mom in her wheelchair before she died. The only thing that hung me up was actually crossing the street at the restaurant and the train that was finishing coming through. I could have used the underpass, but I hated that place and didn't feel like using my waning energy to create a mental and spiritual bubble of protection around myself. I always felt this tar-like darkness down there.

The rest of the walk took just as much time. In fifteen minutes, I'd made my way to the canal. Here, I saw people walking around some, so I decided to move on down the river. I didn't want to really deal with anyone. Right now, all I needed was peace, quiet, and open space. As it turned out, I should have just stayed where I was. Farther along the river where people liked to wade through weeds to get to a fishing spot, things only really got louder. Fate decided to pick that exact moment to kick me in the butt. So much for a bit of serenity…

All I did was stare at the scene for a long moment. There was absolutely no way in Hell this was really possible, and I heavily debated the hospital. Diet food didn't seem so bad right now, or handing over my sneakers as if I was planning to strangle myself with the laces. But after one long moment of deliberation, I simply pushed that thought aside. I wasn't that crazy as of yet. I did not need to be institutionalized.

I knew I could sense presences and auras, but this was way beyond that. These people should not, under any kind of circumstance, be here. This was not my wild, depraved imagination running rampant and showing me people I dearly wished I could meet for real. However, these two rather tall men were right here at this very moment in the flesh. Why they were here, I hadn't the foggiest notion to go on. But they were here all the same.

In the end, I'd like to say I took everything in stride and handled the situation very well. That would have been the biggest lie I told in the entire year, which hosted a string of lies both to others and myself. So what did I do? Without any further provocation, I burst right into a hysterical laughter. This gained their immediate attention and me a seat on the grass. Clearly, I was going to be the world's chew toy a while longer.

"Is she laughing at you or me?" the one man asked.

The other, a man just as tall with long silver hair, gave what might have been a scowl for his normally unchanging expression. "I don't know, but we're about to find out."

With those words, I was very quickly introduced to the tip end of a long and slender Japanese blade. My vision was a bit blurry from the tears that were trying to form, but I could tell the man holding the blade was not happy. The other man—his hair was like a low-burning fire, oh the irony—didn't look to pleased, either. Though whether that was with the silver-haired warrior or me, I didn't have any idea. All I knew was I was now in danger of losing my head to a nodachi and possibly a very long, red broadsword.

"Precisely what do you find so funny?" the silver-haired man asked. "You better answer quickly."

For the life of me, I couldn't stop laughing. "I-I…" I was very sure my face was red now. Eventually I believe I managed something along the lines of, "I'm losing my damn mind."

"Sephiroth, put your sword away," the other man said with a small chuckle. "The poor dear probably thinks she's delusional because she's seeing two former top-class Firsts…" There was no hiding the amusement in his voice.

Sephiroth—I could not entirely believe he was here—dispelled the sword with an irritated sigh. He glanced to the other man, Genesis, and back to me again. "Do tell us, child, where are we precisely?"

As soon as I stopped laughing, I was able to speak. Standing was still debatable, though. "You're in Cumberland," I told them. My expression was a strange combination of emotions. "And that should not be possible."

An odd look crossed Genesis' face. "How is that not possible? And I have never heard of... Cumberland."

I giggled a little again, suddenly worrying for my sanity. "Cumberland, Maryland, of the United States of America. Planet Earth, not Gaia. And God only knows how you got here."

Genesis crossed his arms and gave me a rather cross expression. "Not Gaia." His voice was filled with skepticism. "What, are we in an entirely different world, now?"

"That pretty much sums it up!" I chimed, pulling my legs into my chest with a wide grin. "That, or I've gone entirely delusional finally and you two are just a figment of my way overactive imagination."

There was a very long moment of silence between the two Soldiers and me that threatened to really drive me into insanity. As it was, I probably already sounded like I belonged in the hospital if their expressions were anything to really go on. They clearly did not entirely believe what I'd told them, and maybe looked a little insulted by the insinuation they were just a part of my wide, wild imagination. Still, I wasn't entirely convinced of them being really real yet, and I was going to make that more than known. But how to prove they were real...? That was my question now.

"Have you seen anyone about your mental health?" Genesis asked, clearly growing more annoyed by the moment.

I blinked owlishly. "Oh, yes, I see my therapist every three weeks," I said, holding up that many fingers for them like an idiot. "She hasn't sent me across the street yet, so I don't think I lost my marbles before I saw her last. That may have changed, now, though. Maybe the end of the semester really is getting to me."

Sephiroth looked about two seconds away from skewering me on his blade. "I could always impale you to prove we're really here."

In that very second after the silver-haired man spoke, Genesis stepped in between the two of us. I got the feeling it wasn't simply to protect me. "Well, if someone else sees us, will that do for you?"

There was a shorter pause and I shrugged. "Well, I guess it would. You want to accompany me home? It's not large, but my dad's there." I paused again. "That, and we'll have to pass by lot of people downtown to get to my apartment. I think that should do."

"That will do," Genesis sighed. He walked over to me and held his hand out to help me up.

I took that hand and hoisted myself up, keys and other assorted key-chains jingling along the way. "My name is Cari Neal-Harden. You two are Sephiroth and Genesis Rhapsodos."

"How does one not from our world know who we are? " Sephiroth asked, crossing his arms.

I gave a nervous chuckle. "My rather debatable video game knowledge and the internet." I watched the two men look between each other. "I have a certain odd belief that may very well now be truth." They looked back at me expectantly. "Regarding this world's various entertainment." I blushed when I realized I was still holding Genesis' hand and pulled it back very quickly. "Now, as nice as it is out here, I think it's time to get home. I'll pull something to eat together when I introduce you to my dad."

We started walking, me leading with them following behind me. I knew they were having a small conversation between themselves, but I couldn't really hear what they were saying despite the fact that my headphones had fallen off my head and down my neck in the process of laughing. However, I was still fairly certain they were debating over my mental stability among other things. And to be frank, I couldn't blame them for debating on that. Aside from my very few friends, I was probably seen as off my rocker. Then again, I didn't really have any friends at the college to speak of. But between talking to myself and my rather poor social skills, I was pretty sure that was part of why people avoided me.

The walk back was longer, but that was probably due to the fact that people took notice of me this time. No one actually said anything, but they didn't need to. I knew they were looking because for once in my life, I had two strange men following me home. Clearly, others could see them as well, so I wasn't totally losing my mind finally. It still wasn't an entirely comforting thought, but I couldn't do anything about it now. They weren't going to become my imaginary friends, they more than likely weren't some demon that I was going to have to deal with later regardless of their in-game nicknames, and they were certainly not going to leave the one person they actually met alone. Dear God, I was definitely the multiverse's chew toy.

I stopped at the cream-colored building and sighed rather witheringly. I hated coming home after I was already out. It was a conundrum of sorts to me, as I didn't like really getting out much. And yet when I did get out, primarily going to the college for classes, I loathed having to come home afterwards. Sometimes it made me wish I either lived on my own or lived in a dorm room. I had neither the money or means for either. It was almost maddening—no wonder I felt like I was going insane in that rinky-dink apartment.

"Well, this is the building," I said. "Dad and I live in Apartment 7, but it's oddly enough the first door when you go in. Presumably, it was either used as an office or was a part of Apartment 1."

Sephiroth and Genesis raised an eyebrow in unison. "Is it really that small?" asked the red Soldier.

There was an awkward silence and I sighed, blushing in embarrassment. I could not meet their gazes. "I-I… We live below poverty level and can barely even afford this…"

Without waiting for either of them to respond, I briskly walked towards the doors of the building and made my way inside. I could hear them walking in step behind me. How was I ever going to explain this to Dad? I had no idea how he was going to actually react to seeing two strange men in the tiny apartment. And then the question of what I was going to even do about living arrangements for them came to mind. We couldn't put them up for long, they had no money, and I wouldn't wish for them to sleep under the bridge.

I stopped myself mentally and physically in front of the apartment door. Since when was it my duty to figure out where they were going to stay? How could either party of sorts trust the other, anyway?

With a shake of my head, I opened the door and lead the two inside. "Dad, I'm home…" I hesitated. "Er…"

"Hey, Boo," I heard him say from his room. After that, in the background, I heard some snickering from Genesis.

"And… we have two guests." I hesitated long enough for Dad to stand up and walk into the living room. "Um, yeah… Sephiroth and Genesis. I guess this proves that multiverse theory correct, huh?" I gave about the most nervous laugh I believe I'd ever given until that point.

For a long moment, I'm pretty sure Dad didn't know how to react to that at all. He was very well aware of who these characters were—mostly Sephiroth—because of me. But for me to quite literally bring the two Soldiers home was an entirely different story from simply talking about them. Eventually, he did speak again, and thankfully without further embarrassing me. It was bad enough to have to lead them into my home—such as it was—and be called by my parents' nickname for me in front of them. I really didn't need to be further humiliated.

"Well, it's nice to meet you," my dad said. "I'm Vernon." He held his hand out to shake one of the two Soldier's hands.

Genesis took the offered hand firmly when Sephiroth stood back, glancing around at the living arrangements. "It's good to meet you, as well," he said. "It seems your daughter thought she was losing her mind…"

At this point, I was shedding my coat. I glanced up to Genesis with a small scowl. "Wouldn't you think you were, too?" My attention flicked to Sephiroth as he investigated my bed and went to further investigate the brown container by my pillow. I quickly flopped over in front of him with a glare. I had no adequate threat, of course, but I didn't really care at the moment. "Nosy…"

"What is that container?" he asked coolly. "And what is wrong with simply looking at it?"

I hesitated long enough for Sephiroth to circumvent me and look at the top.

"Jimmie Lynn Neal," he said emotionlessly. "Who—"

My eyes felt like they watered. "My mom," I snapped a little. "Don't touch her."

Sephiroth backed away from the urn. "Oh," was all he said, and even then there was little to no inflection in his voice. I got the feeling that was due to things other than a simple lack of interest, considering who he thought 'Mother' was and all.

I pulled back up from my bed. "Anyway," I huffed, crossing my arms. "Welcome to my home."

Dad sighed. "Where did you run into these two?" he asked.

"Down at the river," I said. "They seemed to be lost, so they asked me where they were. Now they're here with nowhere to go and no money." I glanced at them again. "Presumably, at least. I brought them here to prove I wasn't actually delusional yet. We figured if you saw them, too, I was still a bit sane."

"It figures we find the local kook," Genesis sighed from behind me.

I turned on him with a raised eyebrow. "As crazy as I probably am, I don't think that title belongs to me. On top of that, I think you're lucky you found me and not a police officer. I highly doubt all would be so swell if that happened. There probably would have been a warrant out for your arrest." That last part was probably a little much all things considered, but it got him to shut up, at least. I groaned a little. "Look, you're completely lost here and probably not sure who you can trust. You don't know—" I twitched a little—oh, no. "You don't' know if anyone will really trust you, either." I twitched again. Maybe they wouldn't notice anything wrong? "You have no form of identification on you. And it's something of a requirement for a lot of things."

The pain in my face increased—it was like someone was trying to shock me into submission. Most of the time, it wasn't so bad and I could ignore the bit of tingling there. Normally, I might twitch once or twice and that was it. But right now, I was twitching more and more. Sephiroth, Genesis, and Dad had to have noticed something was wrong. Dad knew what was going on, but Sephiroth and Genesis didn't, and their expressions showed as much. Of course, I didn't have the real time to wonder what they thought might be wrong.

My hand reached up to my forehead where most of the pain was centered right now and I dug my nails into the flesh a bit. That helped vaguely, but it still hurt like the dickens and the afflicted area was growing. Damn nerves. I tried to focus in on anything but the pain, but it was nearly if not completely impossible. I wanted to scratch, desperately. I wanted to scratch away the pain like I always did. In my experience, there was absolutely nothing worse than putting up with the nerve defect. It could range from simply annoying to about debilitating. Right now, it was somewhere in between.

I think Dad stepped into the kitchen for a moment, because he was suddenly handing a cold-pack to me. I took it quickly and pressed it up against my face. My glasses had been quickly removed, as well, so the cold could reach from my cheek to the top of my head. This, of course, was not entirely unusual for me. I didn't know what the problem was caused, but it happened at different periods in my life.

"It's a nerve defect," my dad explained before the Soldiers could say anything. "We're not sure what it's called. Her mom knew, but…"

"I see." Genesis fumbled in his coat for something and came out with what looked like a large green marble. I assumed it to be materia. "Maybe I can help."

I scoffed a bit, irritated that this had to happen now of all times. "I was born with this problem. Something like this, you can't fix if it didn't work right in the first place…" I winced a little as the cold started to wear off. The pain was coming back as annoying as before.

Genesis frowned more. "I can at least try."

Before I could say more, he pulled the cold-pack from my face and held up the materia. A greenish-aqua light spread out from it like a river and reached my face. It felt weird, but pleasant. This was what a cure materia felt like. I sighed a bit. So far, it seemed like it was working, because the pain started to go away bit by bit. Maybe the magic would work. In another few seconds, the pain was gone completely and I sighed in relief. It was definitely a nice change of pace, at least. My luck usually wasn't so good.

After a few more seconds, Genesis pulled the materia back. "How do you feel now?"

I blushed a little at the concern he was showing. We hardly even really knew each other! "Y-yeah… Thanks." I pinched my cheek some, which made him scowl some. "But I don't know if that entirely fixed the problem. It still feels numb, and not from the cold."

Sephiroth crossed his arms. "That was a cure materia, and Genesis is a materia master. Don't be so pessimistic. If he wasn't confident it would work, he wouldn't try it."

I sighed. "And I know how my luck works… I'm not the one who trekked across the Nibel Mountains about half-naked and survived it…"

Genesis snickered a little. "I think I like her…" he commented.

"Awe, you're so sweet, Gen!" I grinned widely. His expression deflated a bit, presumably at the nickname. Clearly, I was subconsciously half suicidal. "So, are you hungry?"

The two men shared a glance and sighed. Genesis turned back to me with a charming smile, probably to see if he could successfully make me flush more. And by the way it widened a shade, I was pretty sure it worked. He really was a lady's man. "If you don't mind cooking for us, at any rate."

I just nodded. "I am offering this time. We don't have a lot of fancy food, but I'm sure we can come up with something."

All Sephiroth did was nod. "It doesn't have to be fancy," he said. "Plain pasta or rice would even be good right now."

And with that, life was about to get really strange for me. Did I know what to expect? Not at all. But I did know I was going to be in for the adventure of my life. It seemed like a nice change of pace, too, because I usually felt incredibly bored with the daily routine. Adding in two of the last people I ever expected to meet outside of daydreams was sure to change that up. I could hardly wait, if I had to be so honest. Even if explaining to my two best friends and a few others was a bit of a problem, reactions and subsequent adventures would be entirely worth it.

Stay Tuned For Next Time