I own nothing in this story except for the idea of the worlds merging, and the characters of Lori, Karin, and Connie. Everything else belongs to Squaresoft.

We thought it was just going to be a regular meeting for the senior students about College or University, but were we in for a surprise. I guess I should tell you who I am, my name is Lori, and I am a student at Moon River Secondary School, a small town in the northern part of Canada. I have 2 friends, Karin and Connie. I walked into the auditorium, and found that they had saved me a seat with them.

" It's probably another boring University meeting" Karin commented

" Oh probably" I replied.

Our principal, Mrs. Hyland, came onto the stage, and told us that we were going to be meeting a Headmaster from a recently established military academy called Balamb Garden.

"Balamb Garden!!" I thought in shock

"So that's where those damned monsters came from" Connie whispered.

We nodded, I was still in shock, and we turned our attention to a man who said that his name was Headmaster Cid. I frowned as a thought occurred to me. If Balamb Garden was here, and so was the Headmaster, then what the hell is going on?!

"First of all, I would like to say that we come in peace to your small town. We only want to help you, to show you we are friends I introduce to you Squall Leonhart, and Seifer Almasy, two special forces members who will test your skill in weapons"

"Yeah, like we need that" I muttered, rolling my eyes.

Karin and Connie grinned, and all of a sudden I realized that someone was standing over me. I looked up, and saw that Seifer had come over to us, no doubt thinking we were being insolent.

"You will remain quiet when others are talking"

I nodded, and he walked back to the stage.

"Someone needs to seriously kick his ass" I muttered.

They nodded slightly, and I paused to think about where I had left my bow. Yes, I have a dangerous weapon, but it has been useful ever since the monsters arrived in the thick forests that surround Moon River. The three of us were of the few who actually knew that they were here, and so, we had created weapons for ourselves with what we could get our hands on. I have a bow, Karin has a staff that has blades coming out of it, and Connie has a wickedly curved blade that has hooks on the top edge. I guess I was getting bored because my mind began to wander, which isn't exactly a good thing for me.

"The monsters could attack the city at any moment, you must decide now" Seifer told us rather pointedly.

"If they've been here for a while, how come we've never seen them?" a guy asked from the back of the room

"They have been gathering their numbers together, waiting for the right moment to strike" Squall answered.

As he finished answering, there came screams of fear coming from the hallway leading into the auditorium.

"Monsters! They're real!"

"That's impossible!"

I unconsciously reached behind me, touching the smooth wood of my bow. A group of grade nines came running into the room, and a moment later several bitebugs, grats and glacial eyes came into the room. I jumped up, grabbed my bow and quiver, and aimed at the nearest bug. My aim was true, but it didn't do as much damage as I had thought it would.

"They're at least at level 6 or 7" I yelled to Karin and Connie.

They nodded, and Karin jumped forward, crossing her arms upside down

"Draw Fire!"

I watched as she drew several Fire spells, and Connie jumped forward, slashing down, then bringing her blade vertically up to her face

"Draw Sleep!"

As she drew the spells, one of the Grats hit Karin, and I jumped forward, holding my bow horizontally in front of me, my other hand over my heart.

"Draw Cure!"

As I retreated, I saw Karin readying a Fire spell. She jumped forward, and pointed her staff at a Glacial Eye, casting the spell. It hit the Eye and I realized that the spell had done more damage than I would have to it. Before Connie could get in to kill it, Seifer jumped in, and slashed it with his gunblade, Hyperion. It fell to the ground, and I relaxed, realizing that Squall and Seifer had taken care of the other monsters.

" How the hell did you know how to Draw spells?" Seifer demanded of us

"We live in the outskirts of Moon River, we've been dealing with the monsters ever since they first started appearing" Connie told him

He looked rather startled, as I checked the grade nine girl "Are you alright?"

She looked at me "I..I think so, I got beat up a little, but I'm ok"

I frowned and checked her HP, it had been cut in half by them, so I told her to stand still. She looked at me curiously, as I backed up a few steps.

"Cast Cure!" I said, holding my hand out towards her.

The magic surrounded her, healing the wounds she had suffered, to the amazement of the SeeDs. I smiled and wandered back to my seat, as Karin commented that the spell was a lot better than a Potion. I giggled as I told her that she was the only one stupid enough to go into battle without Cure spells, and she rolled her eyes at me, reminding me she had to use her last Cure on me. Seifer smirked at me, and told Karin that she should reconsider her friendships. I was so angry that I got to my feet and swore at him, using the most nasty words that I knew.

"Lori!" Karin gasped

I took no heed to her, and looked at him, my anger no doubt clearly written on my face. He was just as angry, his green eyes flashing rather dangerously, as he stalked closer. As he approached me I realized just how short I was, but I stood my ground, proving that not everyone was intimidated by him.

"What did you say?" he asked, his voice a deadly whisper

"You heard me you bastard" I retorted.

He turned away from me, and I thought he was going to walk away, when he suddenly turned around and backhanded me. I stumbled backwards as the Headmaster yelled at Seifer to control himself. I watched as he walked back to the stage and spoke to the Headmaster, as soon as he was gone Connie and Karin went to my side.

"Lori, why did you do that? You know he get's mad really easily, and swearing at him didn't help you much" Connie asked

" I did it because he was acting so..."

"That's just the way he is, you know that" Karin pointed out.

I sighed, and sat down looking at the Headmaster. He was telling Seifer something, obviously looking harassed. Seifer nodded, and stood behind him, looking out over the students. The Headmaster started discussing the problem of the monsters, when a tall woman wearing a long purple dress with a fan-like headdress on the back of it entered.

"Oh great, it's Edea" I muttered

She told the Headmaster something, and he turned to us

"This is my wife, Edea. She wishes to tell you something that deals with both our worlds" he explained

She approached the microphone and began

" Greetings to you, I have something that is very important for you to hear, because it directly effects your world much more than ours"

Connie and I exchanged glances, both of us wondering what could be so important that a Sorceress would have to tell us?

"Our world is merging with our own, we are becoming one planet, one place. We do not know why this is occurring, or how to stop it, but we are trying our best"

I leaned over to Connie and whispered that it was probably from Ultimecia's death. She looked at me, obviously wondering the same thing. Karin lightly stepped on my foot, warning me that Seifer was watching us again, and I looked back at the stage. Edea was looking at us and listening to something that Seifer was whispering to her. She nodded slightly, and told us that there would be changes to what our world would look like as they merged furthur. I frowned and considered doing some "research" on their world, or for those who don't understand what I mean, going through the game Final Fantasy VIII. I fought the grin that was appearing on my face, as I heard something about Galbadians. Hmm....apparently they have begun to arrive here earlier than they thought. When we were let out of the auditorium, Karin, Connie, and I walked out of the school, and came face to face with Squall.

"Edea wishes to speak to the three of you"







~~~~~Well, I hope I'll get some reviews for this.....and please be nice, this is my first attempt at a FF8 fic, so I might not be very good at it.~~~~~~~