Okay, so I got a request way back when to delve deeper into Matt and Skye's relationship and how they came to fall in love. I'd been thinking of making a sort of side story, AU, deleted/alternate scenes fic for a while now, so I thought it would be good to combine the two.

Obviously, none of these chapters will make sense if you haven't read Horizons, but I'm not going to include any vital information here. You don't have to worry about missing anything important if you don't read this- it really is just extra stuff. If, by chance, there is something that I feel becomes relevant, I'll just include it in the main fic. No need to scour these chapters for the information, so don't worry.

To the person who asked me for the details surrounding this particular love story, I'm sorry it took me so long to finally get around to it.

Anyway, please read on and I hope you enjoy it.

Music listened to when writing this chapter:

www .youtube watch?v=YJHeVKv_W5Q&t=3060s

Fic disclaimer: The only things I own are any OCs that pop up. Everything else isn't mine.

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That Sky So Blue

(Or, How Matt and Skye Fell in Love)

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Part I: The Obligatory Backstory

Matt groaned lightly as he stretched in his chair at the kitchen table, feeling his back give a few satisfying pops as he did so. Scattered all around him were various textbooks and journals, many of which contained math advanced enough that Castalia had taken one look, paled, and quickly left.

He stifled a laugh at her hasty retreat, suddenly reminded of a similar event from years ago.

"Do you really need to study all this, Da?" Cloud asked, sounding a little faint himself as he flipped through one of the texts. "I thought you already went to school for engineering."

"Well, yes, but there are different branches of engineering, and what I studied doesn't quite match what we need for Mayor Lockhart's plans."

"What did you study?"

"Mechanical engineering, with a focus on aeronautics and aerospace. Believe it or not, I wanted to build and fly my own planes." He laughed sheepishly at Cloud's wide-eyed stare and rubbed the back of his head. "It didn't work out, but I'm glad someone else eventually took up the dream. I'm actually really excited to see that space project I've been hearing rumors about, and with the sort of work I've seen Highwind put out over the years, I'm sure it'll be a success. Maybe he'll let me be a pilot in one of the test runs..."

He shook his head to clear it, a nostalgic smile tilting his lips at the daydream. It had been a long time since he'd had his head in the clouds like that.

"Anyway, since I've been put in charge of Nibelheim's alternative energy projects, this time around, I'm studying structural, architectural, materials science, and environmental engineering along with sustainability designing and project management."

"That's-...Are you going to be able to do all that?"

"Probably not to the extent you're thinking of, but luckily, I don't have to be master of all of them. The ex-ShinRa employees that decided to stay here have a good amount of the bases covered for what we're planning, so I just have to make sure I know enough to keep everything on track."

He looked down at the various towers of material around him and couldn't quite stop his sigh. "While it is nice to hit the books again, I have to admit I'm not as eager as I used to be about spending hours of my day just reading- at least, not from a scholarly perspective. Recreational reading is still fine."

Cloud flipped to another page and finally threw in the towel, closing the book with a grimace before looking at him incredulously. "Hours?"

"Sometimes the whole day, if I could get away with it." He grinned at the dumbfounded expression his response drew. "Though, I was sort of the odd one in my hometown because of it. Goodness knows my constant studying always made your aunt mad."

"Is that why you're so awkward around each other?"

His smile faded a bit, a tinge of regret slipping in as he thought back to those days.

"Noticed that, did you?" he asked wryly. At Cloud's nod, he sighed. "That was part of it," he admitted. "Don't get me wrong, I care about your Aunt Rio just as much as you care about Cassie, but...well, we didn't get along nearly as well as you two while growing up. I told you about my old dream. Rio, on the other hand, is much like your grandparents in that she lives for farming. It's her passion, and honestly? She's good at it.

The problem was with the town itself. If there's one thing you should know about small towns, it's that for the most part, the people who live in them tend not to acknowledge that there's a world beyond. Mom and Pop had both spent some time in a big city, so they were some of the rare few who didn't fall into those mindsets, but not everyone was the same. Seeing as the closest thing we had to an engineer was the local blacksmith, no one seemed to understand my interest in flying or my desire to leave town. Rio, with her love of farming, sort of let herself fall into that line of thinking. It caused a lot of arguments between us, and one huge one right before I left where I...said some things I probably shouldn't have. It took a long time for either of us to admit we had any blame, and longer to apologize. We finally reconciled a little after I settled down here, thanks in no small part to your mother and Uncle Neil..."

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~[ μ ] - εуλ 1987~

Matt held back a sigh as the wind howled and snow swirled around the window, both of them a reminder as to why he was in this situation.

It had taken him a fair bit of negotiating, but he'd managed to get some of the townspeople to pay him in exchange for doing some odd jobs around town. Of course, once they realized he did know a thing or two about the sorts of chores present in small-town life, it was easier, but the point was that he'd finally acquired enough gil to buy him and the little girl he'd found safe passage to Rocket Town. From there, it was just a matter of catching the next flight to Junon, where his well-paying job and lovely apartment was waiting for him, enrolling his...ward? Adopted daughter...? Whatever she was going to be, in school, and his new life would begin.

It figured that the first snowstorm of the season would hit when he was ready to leave. Now, the two of them were stuck here for at least another night and, depending on how bad the storm was, possibly for the winter. It was near impossible- and risky as hell -to drive up here in deep snow. Or so he'd been told.

It was frustrating, but...he still didn't regret the delay. Not when it would also mean he regretted saving a child.

A soft rustle of fabric brought him out of his thoughts and drew his attention to the couch opposite his own (the secondhand furniture was given to him by the innkeeper as payment for patching up the roof), where said child was sitting. She was wrapped up in a cozy-looking blanket provided by their generous host and staring at the growing splash of white on the panes with something in her eyes that almost looked like...wonder.

He smiled, a bit of tension he hadn't realized he'd been feeling easing slightly.

Oh, she did an excellent job at seeming okay, doing small tasks around the house and even pouting once (or so Skye had said), but then the forced mask would fall, making way for a solemn countenance that had no place on a little girl. That, and near silence, was understandable of course (near, because she was answering, but she never started the conversations herself), but it didn't make it any easier to witness. This was the first real spark of life he'd seen in her since he'd found her weeks ago.

Feeling a bit hopeful, he decided to try talking to her. "Is this your first time seeing snow?"

She gave a slight start, hazel eyes jumping from the window to meet his before she smiled (but it was off, like always). "Ah, no...I-I've seen it a couple of times."

That was probably her weakest smile yet. It seemed she knew it, too, seeing as she quickly looked down at the blanket being twisted by her hands. Silence settled between them once more, and he felt the stirrings of disappointment at the failed conversation. Maybe he was pushing things by trying to get her to talk more, but...

He just couldn't stand seeing her trying to act as if nothing was wrong when things clearly were.

He continued with an inaudible sigh and an inward request for forgiveness for what he was about to do. "Did you grow up somewhere where it snowed?"

He tried not to wince at the question. It was insensitive, given her situation, but not so much so that if he acted normal, maybe she would take it as a typical question. Besides, if she'd already been traveling around with her merchant parents, it was doubtful that she even remembered anything other than going from place to place.

To his surprise, however, she shook her head.

"...It was hot," she said, seeming to hunch into herself inside of the blanket, "and it never snowed."

That...actually did narrow down the place of her birth, but that wasn't important at the moment. Right now, he could hear the way her voice wavered, and her eyes were growing distant again, darkening with the sadness of loss and loneliness.

"I see," he said, giving a mental cheer when the darkness receded a bit as she looked back at him (slow, he had to take things slow). "It's just that you were staring at the window, so I wasn't sure."

"I've never seen snow like this," she admitted quietly. "As a storm, I mean."

She was also surprisingly well-spoken and articulate for a girl that couldn't be any older than five or six. That was something to think about later, however. This was the longest-running conversation he'd had with her, and he didn't want to stop now.

The wind chose that moment to give a particularly loud howl, and he watched as her attention was brought back to the window. She didn't look bothered by it, though.

"The noise doesn't scare you?"

"Not really. It sounds-" she cut herself off shook her head. "Never mind..."

Reluctant to say what she was thinking. He could understand that too. They hardly knew each other, after all. Still, this was progress. Seeing as she was opening up more right now than she had in weeks...maybe she would...

"...Can you...tell me your name?"

She stiffened, something heartachingly fragile crossing her expression for an instant.

"Y-You don't have to if you don't want to!" he quickly went on. "I just thought it might make it easier to talk, is all."

"It-...My name-..." she hesitated, then resumed haltingly, "My name...is part of everything I lost. I-...I'm trying, but I-" Shame filled her eyes in before she shut them and turned away. "I don't-..."

So mature...but still so young...and hurting beyond anything he could imagine.

He was moving before he realized it.

"I'll give you a new one," he promised softly, wrapping an arm around her shoulders and tugging her close. "Sound good?"

That fragile look from before was back, but seeing it just made him more sure that this was the right choice. "But-..."

"It won't make the one you have now any less special or important," he continued. "It'll just become another part of you."

Her breaths grew ragged, and he could feel her trembling against him. "I-I-...My name-...M-My family-"

"Would understand," he cut her off gently, heart aching. "Wanting to let your name go doesn't make you a bad person, and it doesn't mean you're going to forget them. Besides, I'm sure they wouldn't want you hanging on to something if it was causing you pain. They would want you to be happy...right?"

She nodded jerkily.

"Then, it's okay."

It seemed that was the breaking point. There was one stifled sob, then another, and another, until some of the most heartwrenching wails of grief he'd ever heard broke free as she fell against him and buried her face in his chest, crying her heart out. Hearing them made his eyes sting, and his throat hurt, but all he did was wrap his other arm around her and hug her tightly.

If he didn't, he felt like there would be no chance of helping her.

He didn't know how long he sat there holding her in his arms, but eventually, her wails turned back to sobs, which turned to hiccups, and then sniffles. Through it all, she kept a tight grip on his sweater. Even as she finally looked up at him, eyes red and watery and tired, she seemed reluctant to let go.

He smiled, trying to pour as much comfort into it as he could.

She blinked, staring at him a few moments, but when she smiled back- small and unsure as it was -it was genuine.

"...Thank you."

"Anytime."

Maybe he should have been surprised at how much he meant that, but...he wasn't.

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"...How is she?"

He straightened up from where he'd been tucking the blankets around his kid (he was going to get used to calling her that) at the murmured question. Skye stood there in the entrance to the bathroom, her arms gently rocking her son even as her brows furrowed in concern and she looked at the couch (they'd tried to get her to sleep on the bed, but she'd been stubborn in her refusal) with a slight frown on her face.

"Better, I think," he whispered back. "She must have been holding a lot of her feelings in."

"Can't blame her for that," Skye sighed. "Still...it broke my heart to hear just how much she was hurting."

"Yeah..."

She set Cloud down in the crib next to the bed and gestured in the direction of the "kitchen" (and it didn't hit him until then just how small Skye's house was compared to the others- everything but the bathroom was one large room). "Come on; I'll put the kettle on."

Once they were both sat at the table, mugs of hot chocolate in hand ("Coffee is for the morning, Allen."), they just sat in a strangely comfortable silence and drank.

It wasn't until a few minutes later that Skye finally spoke.

"You're doing a good job with her."

"You think?" he found himself asking. "Because I feel like I'm floundering more than anything."

"Welcome to the wonderful world of parenthood," she smirked, raising her mug in a playful toast.

He huffed out a laugh but did the same.

"I really do appreciate you saying as much, though," he continued after a moment. "While I may not have expected to be responsible for a child so soon, now that I am, it's good to know I'm doing all right."

"You kept a little girl from starving to death or becoming some monster's next meal- I'd say you're doing more than all right."

He rubbed the back of his neck, admittedly a bit bashful at the comment. "I-I suppose that's true..."

The wind howled once again, this time hard enough to make the windows rattle. Not for the first time, he found himself more than a bit grateful he'd managed to make his way to Nibelheim. A storm this bad wouldn't have just been limited to the mountain, and at the pace he'd been going before coming across the destroyed caravan, he could very well have been caught up in it before reaching Rocket Town. Maybe not far enough away to be life-threatening, but certainly enough to have run the risk of getting them both sick. It was hard to say exactly what would have happened, but thinking about it wasn't going to do him any good. He was here now, and that was that.

Though it seemed like he wasn't going to be leaving any time soon, after all.

Skye seemed to be of a similar mindset. "Don't think anybody's going to make the trek up here after this."

"I figured," he sighed heavily. "Sorry about that. I had no intention of imposing on your hospitality any longer than necessary."

"It's fine," she waved his apology off before smiling. "Better company than anything I was expecting to deal with. This way, I have an excuse not to talk to them."

He snorted. Good to know he wouldn't have to hide his dislike for some of Nibelheim's more...traditional personalities- at least behind closed doors.

"This must be frustrating for you, huh?"

He blinked. "Huh?"

Skye leaned forward a bit, her head propped up on her hand. "You're from a small town too, right? That's why you're familiar with how things work and how people tend to act. But...you don't seem to buy into those beliefs, and you clearly left it all behind for something. To have your plans be derailed like this-"

"It's not so bad," he brushed off with a shrug. "I just had the though that if I hadn't ended up here, I might have been caught outside when the storm hit."

"That's true..." she murmured in agreement before smiling. "Maybe the Goddess is looking out for you, then."

"Goddess...? You mean like the Harvest Goddess?"

"In a way," she chuckled, "and thanks for letting me know you came from a farming town."

"It's actually recognized as a mining town, but agriculture and livestock are pretty prevalent too."

"Wow, you came from one of the good ones, then."

He rubbed the back of his neck. "I guess so..."

She was right, though it had taken him setting out to realize that himself. Most towns had a single trade or good that they specialized in. Farming, livestock, ores and minerals, even mako- it was rare for them to have more than one- especially mako. Most places with a reactor were lucky if they managed to grow enough crops to feed a family outside of their own. It was part of why the people who lived in those rare towns began to believe that there was a Harvest Goddess.

"The Goddesses we're thinking of aren't all that different, though," Skye said, bringing him out of his thoughts. "In fact, they're probably the same."

That was something he hadn't heard before.

"What makes you say that?"

"A lot of the stories that involve a goddess of some sort usually have very similar characteristics. It's led many historians to believe that they're all talking about the same one, even though the names of the deities are different. Hang on-"

She stood and quietly made her way over to the bed, reaching down under it to pull out a box big enough that it probably took up the whole space. When she opened it, he was surprised to see it was full of books.

Skye caught his reaction when she looked up at him and smiled, though it was more of a sad upturn to her lips as her fingers traced one of the covers. "My husband was one of those historians," she explained softly. "Nibelheim was supposed to be our last stop before settling down until Cloud grew up, but then-...Well, after it happened, I had to sell a lot of our belongings so I could afford this house, but I just couldn't bear to get rid of his books."

Oh. He couldn't say he hadn't wondered where Mr. Strife was, but this...

"I'm-...I'm so sorry for your loss."

"Thank you," she murmured. "You're...probably the first person who's said that."

He winced, and felt his heart go out to her. Whatever he may have thought about his hometown, it was clear that Nibelheim was even more close-minded than they were. He doubted anyone from there would have left Skye to fend for herself, especially with a child. That she had managed as much as she had in this environment was nothing short of a miracle.

"Anyway, if- if you're interested, you should read this," she said, handing him one of the smaller texts.

His eyes widened. "Are you sure? You just said-"

"My husband loved the idea of spreading knowledge," she cut him off, her smile a little wider than before. "He would have happily handed it over. Besides, you look like a bit of a bookworm yourself."

A bit of heat rose to his cheeks as he took the book from her hands. Was it that obvious? Then he looked at the cover and felt his brows rise.

"'Nibel Fairy Tales'...?"

"It was the book that first sparked my husband's interest in the world's legends, which led to him trying to study its history. I figured it would be a good place to start."

He was carefully flipping through the pages, though it didn't seem like the book was in any danger of falling apart. It was worn- in the way his favorite books had been when he read them time and time again -but it was well cared for. Skye probably brought them out once in a while to make sure the bindings weren't coming loose and that there were no insects and the like to damage them.

He looked back up and did his best to show how much he appreciated the gesture in his smile. "Sounds good. Thank you, Skye."

"Don't mention it, but don't stay up too late reading it either. With how much snow's falling right now, tomorrow will probably be a busy day."

"Right. Good night."

"Good night."

He turned his attention back to the book in his hands as Skye settled in for the night, a good part of him relieved he'd have something to occupy his time while he was here in Nibelheim. While it had been a bit embarrassing to be so quickly called out on it, he was a bookworm, and having next to nothing to read for months would have probably driven him mad.

"'Castalia's Fountain,' huh...?"

He'd stopped flipping pages at the middle of the book, but he hesitated instead of going back to the beginning. This one sounded interesting. Besides, it probably wouldn't matter if he started here, given that it was a compilation of different stories. He could jump back to the beginning once he was done reading it.

Before that, though, he wanted to check up on the kid.

Luckily, she seemed to be sleeping peacefully for once. Maybe now that she'd aired out some of her grief, this would become a more regular occurence. He sure hoped that ended being the case, at any rate.

"...My name is-"

He shook his head and adjusted the blankets around her before settling on his couch. He'd been honest in what he'd told her earlier. Her name would always be something special- something to help her remember the family she'd been born to -but it was okay to have a new one. Since she had trusted him with it, he would treat it as the treasure it was but keep that knowledge to himself. If she decided to tell someone else, then that would be her prerogative, not his. He really should get started on thinking up a good name for her, though. He couldn't very well keep calling her kid for the rest of winter, after all.

That could wait until tomorrow morning, though.

For now, he needed a bit of time to unwind himself, and a new book was a pretty good way to do that.

OoOoOoOoOoOoOo ~ Chapter End

Thus ends the first part of Matt and Skye's romance. This was pretty much the setup for what is to come, as well as some backstory into both of their lives. Were you expecting Cloud's bio-dad to be a historian? I bet you weren't. It's not something I've seen done in any FF7 fic, to be honest, but I like the idea. I hope you did too.

Yes, Matt does know what Castalia's original name was. He and Vincent are the only ones with that knowledge, since by the time Castalia was comfortable enough with Skye, she'd already had her new name for years and wasn't sure how to bring it up. If the topic ever came up again, she would tell her, but it hasn't.

The next chapter will probably continue where this one left off, but I'll need some time to plan it out. Since I'm also working on the next chapter of Horizons, it'll probably be a while before it comes out.

Oh, since this is a "bonus content" fic, feel free to leave suggestions for scenarios you'd like to see me mess around with. I already have a couple in mind, like the "what if?" scenario of Iroh being that Iroh, who fully remembers his original world, or if Sephiroth/Angeal/Genesis had been one of the SOLDIERs on the protection team along with Ryuu. Things like that. I can't say I'll do all of them, but if one catches my interest, I'll probably write something for it.

I think that's about it. Let me know what you thought. Until next time and take care!