Disclaimer: I do not own the characters from Final Fantasy, though I am similar to an infinite number of fangirls in wishing that I did. Square-Enix owns the characters.

Note: This takes place during Advent Children, and may contain slight spoilers, though the story is most definitely going to vary from the Advent Children storyline. This was also written before I saw Advent Children, so the disease known as Geostigma will have different effects than portrayed in the movie.

Trying To Get Home

Squall Leonhart, age 18, woke up and was immediately confused. He didn't remember being asleep outside all alone. The last thing he remembered was saying a quick goodnight to Rinoa, his girlfriend, and then falling asleep in his bed. So why the heck was he here?

He stood up to survey his surroundings, finding them quite bleak and drab, with little vegetation and a lot of rocks. There weren't any people either, nor signs of civilization in any direction. Just bleak wasteland. He was starting to wonder if this was some weird dream, and he expected to be woken up by Rinoa any moment, so he figured he might as well do something. He began walking in a direction, though he wasn't quite sure what direction it was, but if it was a dream, it really didn't matter. If it wasn't... well... he really didn't want to think about it.

A few hours later, he was hot and exhausted. He'd been fighting monsters that he'd never seen before, and though he wasn't really struggling with them, he'd been fighting a long time. It was almost comforting, though, that there were monsters here. It helped this place seem like his own world, not some other world. He shook his head to clear it. What was he thinking? Of course this was his own world. It's not like there were others or anything, nor would he have been able to get to them if there were. Especially not in his sleep.

Squall was just about to give up for the night, and sleep where he was, regardless of the danger, when he noticed a small campfire ahead. He shrugged, and decided to go investigate, since monsters generally did not build campfires. He approached quietly, going unnoticed by the owners of the fire, one man with incredibly spikey blond hair and a huge sword, a girl with long brunette hair and fighting gloves, and an odd man with black hair and a red cloak.

As he approached, both the blond-haired man and the black-haired man turned to look at him, noticing his presence, which caused the brunette to look curiously as well.

"Hello, traveler... want to have a seat?" The blond spoke up first, gesturing to an empty spot.

"No thank you. I'd just like to ask a few questions, and then I'll be on my way." Squall answered stiffly, wishing he didn't have to talk to people. Conversing didn't happen to be his strong point.

The blond raised an eyebrow, but shrugged it off. "Alright. What do you want to know? Oh, but first, my name's Cloud Strife." Cloud stood and shook Squall's hand. Squall suppressed a snicker at Cloud's odd name.

"I'm Squall." He replied. The black-haired man snickered softly, and Squall glared.

"Don't mind Vincent." Cloud waved in the black-haired man's direction. "I'm sure he wasn't laughing at you." He glared at Vincent, as if threatening him to say otherwise. Vincent kept silent, never looking up.

Squall shrugged it off, and asked, "Where am I? I mean... what town is the closest?"

"Midgar." Was Cloud's reply, which threw Squall for a loop.

Where the heck was Midgar? His face remained passive, and he nodded and asked, "Where is the nearest garden from here?"

Cloud's brow wrinkled in confusion. "Garden? As in a flower garden? Well... there's one in sector 6 of Midgar..."

Squall shook his head. "No, I mean a military garden. You know, you go in, pay for a mercenary, and they do stuff for you." Cloud looked confused, which Squall took as a bad sign.

"I don't think we have anything like that anywhere..." Cloud answered, shaking his head.

Squall sighed inwardly. What sort of backwards place was he in, anyway? Gardens were practically everywhere. For the residents to not at least hear of them... He really was far away from home.

Squall's thoughts were interrupted by the arrival of a new person, another female. She wore a long black dress with a floral pattern around the bottom, and a low v-cut neckline, and a black turtleneck sweater underneath. She smirked, and grinned, "Hello, Squally. I hope you like this world, because you aren't going to leave it."