Disclaimer: Roses are red, violets are blue, I don't own FF7, and neither do you!

Note: Whelp, I'm back again. This story is sure turning out more serious then my other ones, eh? Remember to review me and tell me what exactly you think of it, it would be highly appreciated.

"If at first you don't succeed, than sky-diving is not for you"

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"Blah Blah" = talking

'Blah Blah' = thinking

Falling Stars

Chapter 1: Don't Wake Me Up

Do you believe in fate? That everything is planned out for you before you are even born? That your destiny is set in stone and nothing about it can be changed?

I don't.

There are so many different pathways on your road through your destiny, constantly forking off and heading in a new direction. I wonder sometimes though.

They say that the harder path always leads to the better goals, and that the easier paths will lead you down the trails of ignorance, and, to some point, I have to agree.

But, what if you traveled down the difficult path, and it lead you to nothing? Would the journey there have been worth it? The experiences of joy and sorrow? Or would have it all been in vain?

"Nothing worth getting comes easy." They say, but, at what price? In reality, anything is truly better than ignorance though, being kept in the dark, never knowing what is truly going on around you.

I suppose I'll just let the wind carry my feet in the direction it wants, but, I'll just have to remember to keep my feet on the ground, lest I be swept away by the current.

ooOOoo

1st person p.o.v. - Holie

I could tell that my body was trying to wake me up. In my semi- conscious state I could make out some noises. Whispers, clanging sounds that seemed to be coming from some metallic thing, the sound of clinking glasses, and what sounded like something hitting a counter. Though the noises seemed to be so close, like I was right next to them, they also seemed so far away, like an echo.

After just lying there for a few minutes, trying to distinguish the ever-loudening voices, I crinkled my nose as I caught whiff of what was undeniably a cigarette. I never really did care too much for the smell, but with my mom being quite the smoker herself, I'm rather used to the smell.

Slowly I cracked my eyes open, immediately regretting it as light assaulted my already burning eyes, making me realize just how much my head was throbbing. I quickly shut my eyes again, groaning.

'Man, I'm going to have this headache for a while.' I thought to myself, bringing my hand up to the bridge of my nose and massaging it, hoping that would calm my headache down some.

I hadn't realized that my actions had drawn anyone's attention until I felt someone lightly shake my shoulder. I was about to tell the person to get lost when whoever it was left on their own, and I sure as hell wasn't complaining. I was still pretty tired.

Right when I was about to go back to sleep though, the person, whoever it was, came back and shook my shoulder again. I groaned, and tried to swat the person away with my hand, but instead, she laughed. Or, at least I though it was a she. It'd be an awful high-toned laugh if it were a guy.

"Glad you're finally up. You've been out for quite a while." She said.

I sighed dramatically, resigning myself to the fate of not getting anymore sleep. I carefully opened my eyes, cautious about the light this time.

Colors swirled together fuzzily; I couldn't make out any objects. Blinking a few times, I sat up and rubbed my eyes with the palm of my hand, then blinked a few more times before yawning.

My vision cleared, and I looked around the area I was in. Pillows and other objects were thrown about; I myself was seated on the only couch. A table was in the center of the room with a few papers on it and to my left was a large screen. Across the room passed the table was an old fashioned computer, it looked like Windows 3.1 or something, and next to it was a pinball machines with strange wires hooked up to it. For some strange reason, this place looked familiar, but I couldn't place where I knew it from.

Finally, I looked over to my right, where a person was standing, the person who had been shaking me awake so rudely. She had long, brown hair, tied together low. She had red-brown eyes and wore slightly dangling silver earrings. She had on a white belly shirt and a black mini skirt with a black belt, and was also being held up by two overall straps. She also wore red-brown hiking boots and black socks and a pair of red-brown gloves that turned black and went up to her elbows.

'Oh my god is that . . .' my brain started, but then the girl answered for me.

"Hi! Sorry if I freaked you out back there. My name's Tifa. Tifa Lockhart." She said, extending her gloved hand. "And you'd be?"

I must have just sat there for a while because she started looking at me kind of funny. But I didn't care. I was panicking! Wouldn't you?! I mean, seriously. So, I did the first thing that came to my mind. I screamed.
ooOOoo

1st person p.o.v. – Tifa

Being a hostess for the 7th Heaven bar, I've seen a lot of weird things, but I have to say, a girl suddenly dropping out of the roof had to be the oddest thing yet.

At first, we thought that she was a spy for the Shinra, a bunch of assholes that are draining the life out of the planet for their own purposes, and Barret, my friend and leader of AVALANCHE, almost shot her, but Biggs and Wedge had stopped him before he did anything irrational.

When we deduced that she couldn't have been from Shinra, we put the unconscious girl on the couch downstairs, and then Biggs, Wedge, Jessie, Barret, and Cloud went on a mission for AVALANCHE to blow up Mako reactor No. 1.

The group had been gone for about three hours when I went to check up on the girl. I rode down the pinball machine elevator and went up to the girl, shaking her shoulder. She scrunched up her face, obviously not liking it. I let go, and walked over to a dresser and took out some aspirin. After falling through the roof I figured she'd probably have a mondo headache and would probably need it.

I went back to her and shook her shoulder again, and this time she groaned, and tried to swat my hand away. I couldn't help it. I began to laugh a bit. I could see she was waking up, so I said,

"Glad your finally up. You've been out for quite a while."

The mystery girl heaved a big sigh, opening her eyes cautiously. 'The light must be bugging her' I figured. She looked around rather dizzily, rubbing her eyes and yawning, before taking in her surroundings. When she finally looked at me though, her eyes got real wide and it looked like someone hit her brain's off switch of something.

'She's probably wondering who I am.' I thought, then said out loud,

"Hi! Sorry if I freaked you out back there. My name's Tifa. Tifa Lockhart." I extended my hand to her in a sign of greeting. "And you are?"

I waited for the girl to answer, but she never did. She looked like a chocobo-caught-in-path-of-Mako-truck. I looked at her a little odd, and she started almost hyperventilating, and then, she did something I didn't expect. She screamed. And not just a little "Ahh!" either. It was a full- blown "oh-my-god-I'm-going-to-die!" type.

When she finally quieted, I could hear everybody upstairs in the bar go completely silent. I sighed.

'Great. They probably think I'm trying to kill her or something.' I thought, looking back to the disturbed girl.

She was white, looking like she had just seen a poltergeist or something. She was gripping onto the blanket that had been put over her, her knuckles turning white from the grip she had on them.

"No way, no way, no f&!$ing way, this is not happening, it is all a dream." She started saying over and over, then pinched her arm. "OW!" She yelped, then turned even paler than she already was, which, I didn't even think was possible, but, somehow she managed to pull it off.

"Holy shit this isn't a dream!" She wailed, looking like she was about to cry or something.

Meanwhile, I on the other hand was trying to figure out just what in the world she was rambling on about. Whatever it was though, it was really freaking me out, and I knew I had to stop her soon before she had a nervous breakdown or something. So, I did what I usually do to pull people out of their stupor. I slapped her upside the head.

The girl stopped her rambling, and stared up at me with questioning eyes. She also seemed scared about something, but I didn't know what.

"So, let's try this again." I told the blonde-haired, violet-eyed girl, sticking out my hand. "I'm Tifa Lockhart, and you are?"

Slowly the girl reached up and clasped her hand with mine.

"I. . . I'm Holie. Holie Addams." The girl replied nervously. "Ummm. . . tell me. This, really isn't the 7th Heaven, is it?"

"Well, . . . Yes it is. Why?" I replied, a bit confused.

Holie groaned and squished herself into the couch, rubbing the bridge of her nose. She shook her head, seemingly trying to get something out of her head.

"Oh! That reminds me. Here." I said, handing her some chewable aspirin. She mumbled a thank you, and stuffed them in her mouth and swallowed.

"So. What was up with the scream-fest a bit ago?" I asked, sitting down on the floor.

Holie blushed a little in embarrassment, scratching the back of her head.

"I don't think you'd believe me, even if I told you." She said, getting kind of depressed.

"Try me." I replied with a smile, noticing her funk.

"Well, alright. It all started when I was home alone at my house . . ."
ooOOoo

1st person p.o.v. – Holie

When I was finished with my tale, Tifa was just staring at me, her mouth hanging slightly open. I sighed, and felt my depression come back.

"I told you that you wouldn't believe me." I said, looking down at the floor.

Suddenly I heard laughter, and my head shot up to face Tifa's.

"What?!" I said a bit angry at the bartender.

When she calmed down, she shook her hand at me.

"Nothing, it's just that, well, that's definitely the strangest story I've ever heard! I mean, another world? Seems a little odd to me!" Tifa said smiling.

I groaned and smacked my head against the wall. Tifa looked at me oddly and suddenly her face turned serious.

"You're, not joking, are you.?"

I shook my head.

"No"

Tifa breathed in deep and exhaled. She stood up and looked down at me. She looked really serious all of a sudden, and it made me feel pretty nervous.

"What are you going to do now?" She asked.

My head shot up, I was caught of by the question. I sighed, and closed my eyes, shaking my head, then opened them again.

"I really don't know." I replied.

Suddenly Tifa brightened, and a smile broke on her face. In all honesty, that scared me more than when she was being serious.

"Why don't you join AVALANCHE? You already know what we do, right?!" She said.

"Well, ya, but . . . I don't know . . ." I said slowly. I sure as hell knew about AVALANCHE. In some cases, more than they did, but I couldn't tell her about that.

"Awe come on. What 'da ya got to lose? We're trying to save the planet you know." Tifa told me.

I was quiet for a moment, thinking about the ups and downs to this. On one hand, if I joined AVALANCHE, if I didn't die when the plate would come down, then a monster or something would definitely polish me off. I barley knew how to defend myself. I knew a little karate, but I hadn't practiced it in about two years, so I was quite rusty.

On the other hand, if I somehow did manage to survive through all that, which, I rather doubted, then I would be up for the coolest adventure of my life. You gotta admit. At one point or the other, every RPG gamer wonders what it would be like to travel along with the main characters and help them, and here, I'm getting a chance!

"Well" Tifa asked.

'Choices, choices.' I thought, than said,

"Alright, but I gotta tell you, I'm completely unarmed, so I don't think I'll be much help to you guys." I answered, hoping it would be enough of an answer to let me stay here, but not having to do any fighting or anything.

She smiled widely again, and that made me all the more nervous. Maybe I should of just said no.

"That's all right. Marlene and me were going to go shopping anyways. We can pick up something for you there. Maybe we should get you some clothes too. Those clothes you're wearing are totaled." She said, helping me off the couch.

I raised my eyebrow at her, and then looked down at myself. My blue jean pants had holes in the knees and my right leg had a rip down by my foot. My shirt had a sleeve missing, and my favorite pair of gloves, the black ones with the gold bracelets on them, were all threaded and torn. Heck, the only thing that wasn't broken was my goggles that kept my blonde hair out of my eyes.

"Guess so . . ." I said slowly, wondering how my clothes got so messed up in the first place.

"Well, what are we waiting for? The end of the world?! We should get done before Barret and the others get back or they'll be wondering where we went!" Tifa said, dragging my over to the elevator.

We went up to the first floor, and I blushed when I noticed that the whole bar was quiet and everyone was just staring at me. Kind of made me wish that I was wearing my 'Quite staring at me!' T-shirt instead of the plain blue one I was wearing now.

Marlene, Barret's adopted little girl, came out for behind the bar and gave Tifa a hug. I noticed that there was another person behind the bar, probably the person who tends the bar when Tifa's not there.

"Ready to go Marlene?" Tifa told the little brown-haired girl in a pink dress.

"Yes!" Marlene squealed excitedly.

"Alright. Emily, look after the bar for a while for me, will ya?" Tifa called to the other person behind the bar.

Emily nodded and waved to us as we exited the 7th Heaven.
ooOOoo

1st person p.o.v. – Tifa

Shopping turned out to be real interesting. I got done with mine and Marlene's quick enough, and finding new clothes for Holie was pretty easy, though, she was kinda of picky about what she wore. No, the real interesting part was when we were looking for something Holie could arm herself with. It reminded me of a book I read once. What was it called? Oh yeah, Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone. It reminded me of the part when Harry was looking for a wand, and none of them seemed to fit him. The same thing was going on with her.

First she tried knives. Bad idea. I'm never letting her near them again. Then she tried the bow and arrows. She ended up bruising her arm and nearly shooting the salesman. Next was the staff. Uh uh. At this point I made Marlene exit the shop because I was afraid she might get hurt.

After what seemed like forever, we actually found something that she was pretty decent at. Two things, actually. I know. Amazing. She ended up with a swallow(1) and a pistol. You know, now that I think of it, she seemed awful nervous the entire time. Maybe she's a bit paranoid now. I'd be to if I'd almost decapitated everyone looking for a weapon.

Next up was Materia. This, thank god, was a lot easier then finding her a weapon. She picked out ice, bolt, and cure, three that seemed really good for her. I did find one thing really strange though. She seemed really intoned with the Materia, and I could have sworn that I saw her eyes glow when she held the Materia in her hands before placing them in slots on her weapons and bracer. Maybe it was just the light or something, I'm not sure.

When we were done, the three of us headed back to the bar. The customers were talking again, that was a good sign. I thanked Emily and then showed Holie where the bathroom was so she could get dressed in her new clothes. I also lent her a pair of my extra gloves; since she seemed kind of down that her other ones were in tatters.

About fifteen minutes later she came back out. Her blonde hair was being held back by her black goggles, and she also wore a blue headband under them. She wore a purple belly shirt with a black vest over that, and there also was a black belt across her shoulder down to her side. She also wore blue jean shorts, Black hiking boots and blue socks. Her gun was strapped to her side, and her swallow was held to her back by the belt she wore. Last but not least, she had on the black gloves that I gave her that went half way up to her elbows and her bracer.

"Umm. . . ta da." She said, twirling around in a circle.

"Ouh, you wook pwiddy." Marlene said, making Holie blush from embarrassment.

"You think so? I think I look a little odd." She answered, fumbling with her gloves.

"You look fine." I told her, and it seemed to calm her shot nerves a little.

"Umm . . . you're not going to tell the others about, umm. . . you-know- what, are you?" She asked, eyeing the people at the bar cautiously. When her gaze met theirs, they immediately turned around, chatting with their beer buddies once again.

"Don't worry." I answered the fretting sixteen year old. "I'll let you tell them on your own time. I'll just tell them that you fell from the upper plate or something. It'll be easier to believe than err . . . that." I told her, also now seeing the curious stares of my customers. "Why don't we go back downstairs and wait for the others? I'm curious about what your w . . .hometown is like, and I'll tell you what we'll be doing in a couple of days. It's still gonna be a while before the others get back. "

"Uh, okay." She answered, following me back to the elevator.

When we were downstairs, she sat back down on the couch and I sat on a pillow on the floor.

"So," I started. What's your world like?"

"Well, in my world, there are no platform cities like Midgar, well, maybe in Japan, and there are no such things as Materia, everything is based off electricity, and there are buildings that can touch the sky . . ."
ooOOoo

1st person p.o.v. – Holie

A few hours later, the others form AVALANCHE came back. Tifa gave them the story of me falling from the upper plate, and even though they looked like they didn't believe her, no-one said anything.

I was kind of awkward really, meeting the people that I knew from a video game. Oh, and you know what? Cloud's eyes really do glow. It's kind of creepy in a way. I wonder what he would think if I told him I knew what happened. Probably take a swing at me with that Buster Sword of his. -shudder-

I went to a meeting with the members of AVALANCHE, so, I guess I'm officially a member. Damn, I'm going to die. I just know it. It was about 12:30 when the meeting drew to a close, and we all retired for the night. I took the couch again, and Cloud, who was staying here at the bar too, slept on the floor. He didn't talk to me at all, and that left me a little uncomfortable. Talk about the silent type. Geeze.

I suppose the day could have gone worse. I could be dead now, or booted away with nothing to go on, or had someone yell at me a lot. Well, Barret yelled, but that was to be expected. He yelled at everyone. I knew that he had a potty mouth from the game. But, wow. You have to hear it in real life to get the full gist of it.

As I drift to sleep on my first night in being in a new world, I can't help but think of one question.

'Why in the world did I wake up this morning?'

So ends the first part of The Tale of Falling Stars.
ooOOoo

"I linger in the doorway

Of alarm clock screaming

Monsters calling my name

Let me stay

Where the wind will whisper to me

Where the raindrops

As they're falling tell a story

In my field of paper flowers

And candy clouds of lullaby

I lie inside myself for hours

And watch my purple sky fly over me

Don't say I'm out of touch

With this rampant chaos – your reality

I know well what lies beyond my sleeping refuge

The nightmare I built my own world to escape

In my field of paper flowers

And candy clouds of lullaby

I lie inside myself for hours

And watch my purple sky fly over me

Swallowed up in the sound of my screaming

Cannot cease for the fear of silent nights

Oh how I long for the deep sleep dreaming

The goddess of imaginary light
- Imaginary: Evan Escence

ooOOoo

Reviews

Callmekitty: Well, you're my first review for my story. Thanks. I'm glad that you like it so far, and I hope that you continue to read and review this. New reviews always make my day. They're like, caffeine or something, they keep me going. Again, thanks.
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(1)- A swallow is a two sided sword, the thing to hold it being in the middle. If any of you people have played Chrono Cross, it's that thing that Serge has.
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Note 2: So, what do ya think? REVIEW and tell me, or, or, sniff, I'll cry!

Note3: Ummmm. . . I'm going to need ideas on this one, so, please give me ideas, my muse is like, gone right now, and, someone pointing out my errors would be good too. Hey stratadrake! If your there, your pretty good at that.

Man, this one is turning out to be kinda serious. I'll have to rectify that. Smiles

Holy Shit people. This is my longest chapter that I have ever done. It's 14 pages long and. . . about 4,130 words long! I know that it may seem like nothing to you other authors out there, but, this is a lot for me! I'm a slow typer, so, I am awed at myself. .
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Questions

What should I do for pairings. I'll already tell you I'm no good with romance, but parings are nice. Also, I happen to be more of a Cloud/Tifa fan, but, I still need to know.

Should I kill Aeris? Me personally, I hate that part of the game, but if you people want me to kill her . . .

Should Red find another of his specie? If you've seen the ending of the game, he seems to have cubs, so, you'd think he found someone, right?

What should I do with Sephiroth?

Does anyone have idea's for side things that don't involve the main plot? Like one of them getting sick or something?

Should I split them up into groups like in the game?

Please REVIEW and tell me!