So, self-inserts have become a bit of a guilty pleasure for me. It's gotten to the point where I want to try my hand at it. However, I have been known to be a bit quirky when it comes to ideas, so of course, that had to apply itself here.

Therefore, the premise of this story isn't just a self-insert, but a self-insert combined with time travel. How will the poor SI/OC person deal with being in a fictional world that happens to have someone that knows what things should be like?

Unlike other self-inserts, I do plan on focusing on different characters rather than focus on one person at all times. I think it adds a bit more, you know? So it'll switch between first person and third person depending on who I'm focusing on at the time. I hope you enjoy it.

Disclaimer for the entire story: The only thing I own is the plot idea for this story and any original characters that pop up. I don't own Final Fantasy VII or anything else that I might mention.

[Edited on 4/23/20]

This chapter has been updated with new information that's come out since I first posted it. If you feel up to it, you can reread it. If not, I've mentioned the main changes in the latest chapter (11).

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Everything was a blur of noises and colors and feelings. I was hardly aware of what was going on around me, having only my racing thoughts for company as I tried to get my head on straight and figure out what the hell was going on.

I remembered cold.

That was one of the few things I would understand the reason to once I finally gained some semblance of coherence. It was everything else that bothered me. Like how it shouldn't have been this cold in the first place because I lived in a desert- or at least something very close to one. I was never sure.

Fear and confusion were also very prominent.

I'm sure I must have come to all sorts of frightening conclusions and thoughts, especially once the fact that I was a lot smaller than I should have been finally sunk in. Distantly, I noted that was very quiet. Shock, maybe? I wouldn't have been surprised, but that meant there could be trouble once everything came to me. If I ended up crying I wouldn't feel ashamed of it, to be honest. Considering the circumstances, I think almost everyone would have gone through something similar.

Finally, there was disbelief.

That feeling didn't come around until the end of that blurry time, at the first sign of civilization since waking up in the cold. The village was familiar somehow- like something I'd read in a book and imagined in my head when I was a kid, or something that I'd briefly seen on television. At least, that's what I'd thought until I learned the name of the village.

Nibelheim.

My first thought after being violently snapped out of my daze was that someone was playing a terrible joke.

I immediately ruled out my family- they would never pull something like this. After a moment's consideration, I also dismissed my friends as the culprits, regardless of how much they liked messing with me. It was too much of a waste of money, and frankly, way too scary once someone had time to think about it.

Plus, there was no way a practical joke explained the small body.

I could feel the bite of the icy wind on my face and the sort of dull ache that spread through your body when you were out in the cold for too long, so it wasn't a dream...Probably...Maybe...

It still didn't explain how I'd gotten here.

"U-Uh...u-umm...It's gonna be fine."

I jumped at the feeling of something landing on my shoulder, and turned only to face a man. There was a jerk of familiarity when I saw his nervous smile and green eyes, but it took me a moment to place it, and even then, the most I got was a hazy little bit of memory. He was the man who'd found me- the one that I vaguely remembered trying to talk to me as we made our way to Nibelheim.

He couldn't be that bad if he'd been willing to help me, right?

"I-...I-..."

I swallowed as I realized that I had no idea what to say. I was alone, confused, scared, and probably really far away from home. To hell with being a level headed adult, if that was really Nibelheim, then I was fucked.

"H-Hey now! It's okay! Damn it, please don't cry..."

It wasn't okay, because all I could think about was how my mother would worry, my siblings, what would happen to my dog, and if I would ever manage to get home.

The last one only made me cry harder.

What was the point of this?! This kind of scenario was the sort of thing that you only saw in fanfictions! I wouldn't deny that I had entertained the idea in my mind once in a while, but it had been just for fun! I'd never wanted it to happen! Couldn't whatever have brought me here chosen someone else? Or at least placed me in a world where I had more of an idea on what to do? Yes, I'd played Final Fantasy 7, but the farthest I had ever gotten was to where Cloud had to cross-dress! Any knowledge I had on the story and characters came from wiki sites, internet videos, and fanfiction- hardly useful if one wanted more of the details like bosses and where to find all the valuable items!

'Please just let this be a horrible dream. Let me go home.'

I didn't want to be here.

The last thing I felt before slipping into unconsciousness was the feeling of warm arms wrapping around me.

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Matthew Allen liked to consider himself a good man. Granted, he'd been alone for a good number of years now so he couldn't really make an accurate judgment, but the sentiment was still there. So, when he had noticed a disoriented little girl amongst the remains of a small merchant caravan on the side of the road, he hadn't hesitated to help.

When they entered the small village of Nibelheim, he began to have doubts.

It wasn't that he regretted saving the girl. On the contrary, he didn't think he could have lived with himself if he had just left her there. No, he was more concerned as to what he was going to do. He doubted a small village like this one would have an orphanage, and he especially doubted the townsfolk would be willing to just let him drop her off with a random villager.

There was also paperwork to consider. The thing about traveling merchants was that they were notorious for messy documentation. On the occasion that there was a birth, they sometimes forgot to get everything legalized before taking off again. For the most part, it was ignored so long as the parents themselves had identification and good merchandise- at least up until the child reached ten years of age, at the latest -but with the girl's parents no doubt dead, he had no way of knowing whether or not she was even in the system yet.

He didn't even have a name.

He had tried asking her once he got her into some warm clothes and away from the destruction, but she had been so out of it that after she didn't answer the first time he hadn't had the heart to ask again. He imagined that it couldn't have been easy to deal with, and the girl was probably traumatized- another reason for them to refuse housing her, he realized.

He didn't have the kind of money to get a ride to a bigger town, so that was out. Sure, he could handle himself just fine while traveling, but he didn't know if he could do that while looking after a little girl too. So, it was between staying here for a while, or taking a gamble and see if he was skilled enough to keep them both safe.

He sighed and gently tugged on the small hand he was holding, hoping this place had an inn.

Then, he almost toppled over in shock when the hand tightly squeezed back.

For the first time since he'd found her the glazed look was gone, replaced by wide eyes and a tense body. Immediately, he panicked. He'd read about this- about how sometimes there was a delayed reaction after experiencing a big shock or event. What the hell had he been thinking?! He was nowhere near qualified to deal with a child, much less one in her condition!

"U-Uh...u-umm...It's gonna be fine," he said with a nervous smile and an unsure hand on her shoulder.

Her eyes snapped up and locked with his. "I-...I-..."

He inwardly cringed when she gave a very ominous sniffle and her eyes filled with tears. He didn't like where this was going. Sure enough, moments later, she was bawling.

"H-Hey now! It's okay! Damn it, please don't cry..."

She only cried harder. Nerves shot, he frantically looked around, hoping to find someone that could help him. When he spotted a young woman walking down the street, he didn't notice or register the tenseness of her shoulders or the frown on her face. All he was thinking was that, as a woman, maybe she knew some secret way to soothe the girl's tears. Quickly picking her up, he dashed over.

"Miss, please, you gotta help," he began, not caring about the clear desperation in his voice. "I can't get her to stop."

To her credit, she took to having a frantic stranger approach her with a crying child remarkably well. The only sign that she was startled in any way was the widening of her eyes. Fortunately for him, she was kind enough to push whatever doubts she probably had to the side.

"What's the matter with her?"

"I-I think it's a delayed reaction. I found her in the remains of a merchant caravan-"

She gasped. "That's terrible!"

He grimaced, but nodded in agreement. "I couldn't just leave her there, you know? But now she's crying and I don't know what to do!"

The woman bit her lip for a moment, giving him the impression that she was thinking about something. Finally, she sighed lightly and took the girl into her arms. "My house isn't too far from here. Let's take her there before figuring out what to do."

Relief spread through him, and he was pretty sure it showed on his face. "Thank you."

She smiled slightly. "I can't just let a poor girl cry if I can do something about it. I'm sure you understand, seeing as you took it upon yourself to help."

"Still, I really appreciate this. I mean no offense, but I know how things can be in small towns. I was a bit worried that I might not find someone willing to lend me a hand."

To his surprise, she scowled. "No offense taken. I know far too well how small towns can be."

There was something there, but he thought it best not to pry. "...Right. Anyway, I'm Matthew Allen."

"Skye Strife. It's a pleasure to meet you, Matthew."

"Likewise."

OoOoOoOoOoOoOo ~Chapter End

Hooray for unoriginal names!

Yeah, fanon has Cloud's mom be named Skye, and darn it if that didn't stick with me. Even Matthew was a bit unoriginal since I based him off of a mix of two characters that I happen to like. He'll be a bit important since he's going to be the self-insert's guardian of sorts as she goes through childhood again (that bit will also be explained later), so I hope you guys like him.

Speaking of names, I need a good one for this self-insert. I have a thing about using my own, so I've been trying to come up with one. It's part of the reason I didn't mention it here. Does that technically make it an OC, or is it still self insert since the name is the only thing that would be different? Would it be a combination? What would you call that? Self character? Original insert? Original self character insert?

...Sorry. Questions for another time, I suppose.

Anyway, if you guys have suggestions, I'm willing to hear them. Just...nothing too out there. If it helps, I'm planning on the last name being Allen, since that's Matt's last name and he's going to be her guardian. Again, it's because I have a thing about using my name on the internet, and this is an easy solution.

On a different note, the time traveler won't be in until...chapter three, I think. It might change depending on how chapter two goes. Before you ask, and I'm sure some of you have already guessed, it is going to be Cloud. He's usually the one to go back in time travel stories, so I'm keeping up with that. Will having both of them make things easy? It might help in some cases, but in others, it probably wouldn't. I'm sure you can think of a few reasons why.

That's about all I can think of for now. I hope you enjoyed this first chapter.

[Edit: 4/23/20]

So, Skye's name.

Yes, I'm aware that her official name is Claudia Strife, but...I just can't. Sorry. In this case, I much prefer Skye, as Claudia and Cloud are just too similar and I've never been fond of children's names being too close to those of their parents. If she was Cloud's grandmother that would be a different story, as it gives off that sort of honoring your ancestors vibe, but she's not, so the name stays. Plus, it fits the weather/nature theme.

Other than that, there wasn't really anything to change.