Disclamer: It is unfortunate, but I don't own any charaters or products/companies mentioned in this story and I am making no money off of it.

Prologue:

Driving home that night, in summer's first real thunderstorm was terrible. The rain pounded straight down so hard against the windshield of Squall's little silver car that it was made it almost impossible for him to see through it to the road. It was slightly easier to see the other few cars on the road, due to their bright yellow headlights, but Squall was still thankful that he had only five more minutes to go until he reached the safety of his driveway. When he finally parked his car, he let a sigh of relief escape his lips and felt all the muscles in his body relax.

Squall waited a few moments, before getting out of his car. As soon as he pushed open the door, he felt the force of the wind pushing back against him, as if the storm wanted to keep him right where he was. He climbed out of his car, becoming instantly soaked in the cold rainwater, making the cool summer night feel more like early spring. Reaching back in as quickly as he could, Squall grabbed the backpack that contained his wallet and his dirty work uniform and flung the object over one shoulder. With the help of the wind, he slammed the car door shut and hurried up to his front door, retrieving his keys from his pocket.

He was about to put his key in the lock when he thought he heard someone calling his name, he turned to see two figures in hooded raincoats quickly walking up his driveway. By the size of them, Squall guessed that it was an adult and a child. Checking his watch he wondered why these people were here this late, waiting for him to come home from work.

"Mr. Leonhart?" A woman's voiced repeated hesitantly as she approached. The child walked quickly behind her as if afraid to leave the safety of her side, Squall noted.

"Yes, what do you want?" Squall asked, turning his attention back on the woman who now stood a few feet in front of him.

"My name is Garnet Dagger, I'm a social worker. And I'm – I'm afraid I have some unfortunate news for you, Mr. Leonhart," The woman said sadly, looking behind her and placing a comforting hand on the child's shoulder. "May we come in to talk?"

"Alright," he agreed. Squall turned back around and proceeded to unlock and open his front door. He held the door open for the two strangers as they walked into his house. Stepping inside, he closed the door behind himself, succeeding in shutting the storm out. Squall stared at the pair invading his home; the woman had taken off her hood to reveal a very pretty face framed by thick shoulder length hair. She was young, but years of stress had aged her, making her appear much older than she really was.

The child had also taken their hood as well, Squall noticed. Violet eyes, swollen and red from crying, stared sadly into his grey ones. The kid – boy or girl, Squall couldn't tell which – tried to hide between long waves of chestnut hair.

Squall's eyes found their way back to Garnet. "What is it you wanted to tell me?" he asked, leaning back against the door.

The woman seemed a bit startled that Squall wanted to talk about the reason they were there standing right in the middle of the hall. "Wouldn't you like to sit down and talk about it Mr. Leonhart?" She asked.

"It's Squall," he replied, getting annoyed at the formalities and that she seemed to be stalling. "And just say it. I don't have all night."

Garnet frowned, "Oh," she said looking back at the child. She pulled the kid in front of her and placed her hands on his shoulders, holding him in place, facing Squall. "Your sister Rinoa and her husband passed away Friday of last week in a house fire."

Squall stared blackly at the woman and let the information sink into his brain. He couldn't remember having a sister. When he was little, going from one foster home to the next, there were a lot of 'siblings' that he had, but that name sounded so familiar to him.

"Rinoa," he said then repeated it over a few more times. Finally he remembered that she was in the last foster home that he was in for about two years she had turned eighteen, she moved in with her boyfriend. After she left, his foster mother had adopted Squall and he had never heard from Rinoa again.

"Yes," Garnet said, she rubbed her hands soothingly up and down the arms of the child in front of her, when the kid started crying. "This is Rinoa's son, Irvine."

Squall stood there silently, still taking it all in. He looked back at the boy who had tears flowing down his cheeks dripping off his chin and getting lost in the water on his raincoat. Irvine stared down at Squall's feet, biting his bottom lip, and trying desperately not to cry. When Squall's eyes finally went back to Garnet's green ones, he was slightly surprised that she had started without him noticing.

" - And yes, I understand that you and Ms. Rinoa aren't actually related in any way, but if you can't afford to, or do not wish to take care of Irvine, he'll go back to the foster home he has been staying in."

Squall thought about it, gaze drifting down to the boy once again. The foster care system had been the worse experience of his life. Being that young and constantly moving from place to place, staying with stranger after stranger can really mess a kid up. As he stared into the beautiful eyes of the child before him, he just couldn't let the kid go through the same thing he did, even if he's not related him in any way. Without looking back up to Garnet, he said the words that he knew was going to change his life forever, "I'll take him."

It had taken over two hours before Garnet and Squall had finished with all the paperwork, making him Irvine's legal guardian Even though Squall was still very young, the man had more than enough money to support the child, since his adopted mother had passed away recently and left him with quite a fortune.

When it was time for Garnet to go, the little ten-year-old boy spoke for the first time since he walked through Squall's door. "Bye Garnet," he said, hugging her around the waist after she pulled her coat back on.

"Bye Sweetie," she replied gently running her hands over his soft hair. "And don't worry, I'll be back soon to check up on you and see how you're doing. So be a good boy for Squall, ok?"

"Ok," Irvine said, trying to hold back more tears. He had grown very attached to Garnet over the past week and didn't want to see her go. He watched as she stepped outside in the pouring rain and she gave him one last smile and a wave before she left to get in her car.

Squall watched the entire display between Irvine and Garnet with interest. He briefly wondered what the boy was like before he lost his parents, but Squall pushed that thought from his mind; he had more important things to think about. Like now that he has the kid, how the hell was he going to raise him?

Before he knew it, Irvine had closed the door and was staring at him expectantly. The little boy began fidgeting with the fabric of his t-shirt, and Squall didn't have a clue what to do or say to the kid. He didn't have much time to think about it before Irvine started talking again.

"Is it true that you're only nineteen?" He asked, curious violet eyes searching Squall's.

"Who said that?" Squall asked, raising an eyebrow down at the kid.

"Garnet," Irvine said, placing his hands behind his back and taking a step closer to Squall. "Is it true?"

"Yeah," Squall replied. "I am."

Irvine amused himself by sliding a sock covered foot on the linoleum floor while he thought through his next question. "How can you be old enough to take care of me if you're a teenager?" he asked.

Squall stayed silence for a minute as he looked over the small child before him. He didn't understand how the kid had gone from puffy-eyed and crying to talkative within a few minutes. He figured that it was just the mind of a child and that they probably went through more mood swings than women did.

"I'll manage," Squall finally replied. He let a yawn escape his lips and he realized how tired he actually was. Checking his watch, he noted it was a little past midnight and he had a ten-year-old standing wide-awake in his hallway, and that it was probably way after the kid's bedtime. "Alright, Squirt, let's get you to bed."

"But I'm not sleepy," Irvine protested, and tried to hide a yawn.

"Right," Squall said, still eyeing the child with one eyebrow raised. He honestly didn't know what to do with the kid. He feared that if he asked what his parents used to do for him, than Irvine might switch back to crying mode again, and a teary eyed child was not what he knew how to deal with right now.

"Where am I going to sleep?" Irvine asked. He seemed to realize that he was tired as he rubbed the back of his hand over one of his big violet eyes.

"I'm not sure just yet," Squall replied truthfully. His house had a guest bedroom, so he decided that the kid should sleep there. He turned and walked down the hall and made his way up the stairs with Irvine following close behind. Walking into a room on the left he flicked on the light switch revealing a plain room with a double bed in the center and a small stand next to it. In the corner an old dresser stood beside the closet doors.

Irvine stepped into the room behind Squall, taking in all of its details as he spun around a few times on the soft blue carpet. Finally he stopped and turned to look up at his new guardian. "Is this going to be my room?" he asked.

"For now," Squall said walking over to the dresser that was full of old clothes. Since all of Irvine's belongings had been destroyed in the fire, Squall was going to have to find something for the child to wear. After a few minutes of searching through the drawers, Squall pulled out a white t-shirt that was too small for him, and a pair of drawstring shorts that he never wore anymore. He walked back over to Irvine and handed the clothes down to the kid. "You can use these as pajamas until I get you some new clothes."

Irvine nodded in understanding, holding the clothes tight against his small chest. He looked scared now, like being in a strange place was finally starting to affect him. The 'lost puppy' look that he wore just made him seem much cuter than he already was.

Squall was about to leave the room when he stopped at the door. "Is there anything else you need?" he asked, both hands on either side of the doorframe. "Something to eat or drink before you go to bed?"

Irvine looked around the room once again before he shook his head, making his chestnut waves fly around his small head.

Deciding that the kid had switched back to silent mode, Squall sighed. "Alright, well the bathroom is the next door down the hall. I'll leave the light on for you." He grabbed the doorknob and started to pull it closed a little. "And my bedroom is the other door, if you need anything." He waited until Irvine nodded before he closed the door all the way shut.

Just as he had promised, he turned the bathroom's light on and left the door open before he went to his own room to get ready for bed. He left his bedroom door open as well, just in case, then climbed into his king sized bed in a white wife beater and a pair of boxers. It took Squall a while to fall asleep since the thunderstorm still lit up the sky every few minutes with loud thunder following close behind it.

Shortly after Squall had fallen asleep, Irvine had found his way to the teenager's bedroom. "Squall," the little boy said, poking the older man awake. "Squall?"

The teenager rolled over onto his side and blinked at the child in front of him. It took Squall a second to realize why there was a kid in his house, "What's the matter," he asked.

A flash of lightning lit up the room for a second and Squall clearly saw the look of terror on the child's face, and when the thunder rolled around, Irvine visibly flinched at the loud noise.

"Are you afraid of the storm?" Squall asked, even though he already knew the answer.

Irvine nodded.

"It's been going on since this afternoon it shouldn't last much longer," Squall said, running his hand through his tangled dark brown hair. "Go back to bed and try to get some sleep, ok?"

Irvine didn't move a muscle as he looked at Squall expectantly. It looked like if he moved, he'd start crying again.

"Alright," Squall sighed after a second. He held up the blanket for Irvine as the child smiled for the first time since he had arrived, and quickly climbed onto the bed and snuggled up against Squall. "But just this once," he said, bringing the child closer to him. He rapped his arm around Irvine's shoulders and stroked his hair until the kid fell sound asleep in his arms.

"Just this once," Squall repeated and drifted off to sleep as well.


AN: Yay, new story. I'm very excited about this one. I've got big plans for it. I posted this to just give you a taste of it, and I hope it tasted good. The next chapter will be six or seven years later (I haven't decided which yet). And I'm not posting any pairings because it's going to be a surprise. So you won't know who ends up with who. And I might chance my mind in the middle to make twists. So there.

Anyways, I hope that it sounds believable. I don't really know anything about the foster care system so I kinda just made things up as I went along. And I wasn't really sure what category to put this in because it's going to contain lots of Final Fantasy characters, but I decided on FFVII, because it's going to be mainly about those characters.