[ T - Teen: Not suitable for readers under 13 ]

Chapter One

Just Dropping In


"Nope… Didn't see a thing"- Cid Highwind



***



Suddenly it was calm, perhaps a bit too calm. They didn't know what to think at that moment, it had all happened so fast. Meteor was gone... Midgar was almost destroyed.

The Highwind had been getting thrown all over the place, and as the wind stopped kicking, the airship which was Cid Highwind's pride and joy stopped shaking so violently. It was an entire moment before they, everyone in AVALANCHE, all let out a sigh of relief. Perhaps it was just a bit more then that.

Feeling maybe just a bit to shaky, Yuffie all but crawled from her usual spot in the Highwind, feeling sick as a dog. That had been really bad on her stomach, worse then ever. She really hated being airsick.

"...That better be over." She said, her face turning into a frown as she looked around the airship, seeing that everyone was trying to get their wits back.

Cait Sith had been shut down; therefore they didn't exactly know what was going on just yet. Maybe Reeve had been... killed, but then again... just before the Lifestream had disappeared he had said that he was in Kalm, and that he'd had everyone take refuge in the slums of Midgar. That Marlene, Barret's daughter, was okay. Having stopped digging his claws into the metal of the Highwind, Red XIII righted himself and seemed to be extremely relieved, like everyone else.

Cid took a draw of his cigarette, his hand shaking as he did so. "What the hell happened?"

"Well, obviously, the Planet and Aeris just saved our butts." Yuffie retorted, not feeling so sick anymore. After having the Highwind shaken around like that, she didn't feel like she was going to be sick anymore. Maybe it was almost impossible...

"Shuddap, brat." Barret said, letting go of the bars on the side of the Highwind. He wasn't sure what think right at that moment.

Cloud stood there, thinking for a minute or two before he said anything. He looked and Tifa, who was also looking at him. Maybe it was with a little bit of... no. It wasn't. He wasn't thinking straight.

"...Do you really think that Aeris did that. That she had the--"

"Hell, I dunno." Cid said, turning the Highwind in the direction of Kalm. "All I wanna do right now is land the Highwind before she falls apart, and drop all of ya' off."

"And party a little, I mean we did just defeat Sephiroth..." Tifa said, still not exactly believing that they had done so. "Celebrate...."

"Yeah, sure. I just hope my ship don't fall apart." Cid said, inhaling more of the smoke from his cigarette. Everyone nodded. "Just think, though." Cloud shrugged. "It could be worse."

As if on cue, the Lifestream kicked up again, along with a couple really nasty winds, winds that literally were pushing the Highwind in the other direction. Not one member of AVALANCHE understood what was going on, but they didn't care. They just held on for dear life, and Yuffie's stomach started to start up again as she bolted out to the bridge of the Highwind.

Suddenly they saw it again. Meteor had come back, full fledged and ready to destroy half of the world. Holy was actually fighting this time, instead of helping the hunk of rock. The reddish light that it gave off lighted everything around that part of the planet, giving everything an eerie reddish tone that made Tifa want to shudder.

Then Cid realized it, and fought off the wave of panic that wanted to surge through him. He fought with the controls, actually threw a few choice words at his pride and joy, and all to his dismay the damned thing didn't do so much as go in the right direction.

"Real nice goin', Spike!" Barret yelled, seething. "Damn spiky headed foo'!"

Cloud and everyone just ignored the black man, just holding on for dear life as the Highwind rocketed off into the opposite direction that Cid had been aiming for. Then Vincent realized it, having come up from his usual position on the Highwind.

"...Cid, you're about to fly us right into the mountains." He said, a distant, cold tone coming from his voice. The man didn't even seem to have an ounce of emotion, he didn't seem like he was even so much as be afraid.

Cid did panic then. He quickly tried to fight it off, trying to do whatever he could to stop from running right into the damnable mountains. It didn't work though. Between the Lifestream and the winds, along with the tornados from Meteor, which were now heading in that direction, it seemed utterly hopeless.

And with that, the Highwind crashed. Throwing everyone all around, Cid having tried everything possible to stop it from crashing into the mountains. It didn't crash into the mountains though, very close to it and in the swamp that was right near the mountains. It landed with an enormous crash, the landing gear of the enormous airship having been damaged very badly when Cid and his crew had flown out of the Northern Crater.

Cid just hadn't noticed.



***



Sephiroth stood there, grinning madly as he saw that the Highwind had crashed. He was bleeding badly, only slightly cured from the Full Cure Materia that he had used. It had at least gotten him up, but between Cloud's limit break and the Knights of the Round, the man had been almost near death.

Served AVALANCHE right. Crashing almost into a mountain...

Then the white haired mad man frowned, seeing that the winds stopped flowing about so violently and seeing that with the aide of both the Lifestream and Holy, Meteor had been destroyed. Holy seemed to have betrayed him... but then again you could never trust Materia that belonged to the Cetra. Meteor had been a failure too.

It disgusted him, but he had to make do with what he had. He watched sadly as the small tornados died down, stopping their paths of destruction.

Then he saw, even more disgusted, as a few of the members of AVALANCHE, which it was extremely infuriating, it had seemed almost impossible... but some of them climbed out of the Highwind. It was the ninja girl, the man who seemed like a vampire, the puppet, and the woman who had fallen in love with the puppet.

In other words, Yuffie, Vincent, Cloud, and Tifa climbed out. Sephiroth was thinking of going down there for another round of fighting with them, ready to kill them all despite the fact that he was wounded still. He would of, too, if it hadn't been for the green... mist that suddenly engulfed the four. Sephiroth stood there in utter confusion, having started from the spot that he had been standing in for the last few moments.

Then, with that, they were gone. Disappeared. Right out of thin air.

Oh, how that infuriated the man to no end!

The green mist hadn't been... the Lifestream. No, no... It hadn't been any form of Mako. Not at all, it would of been a sort of... liquid, if it had been from the Planet's life force. It would have been almost like it had engulfed him, after Cloud had used that blasted Omnilash.

But, in all truths, that had only been a clone that Professor Hojo had actually succeeded in making. It was a pity that his father was now dead.

Still infuriated, beyond it almost, if that were possible, Sephiroth growled. He was slightly seething as he headed down to the Highwind, which had taken a huge considerable amount of damage. He wanted to inspect the area that Vincent, Yuffie, Cloud, and Tifa had suddenly disappeared.

When he got there, standing in the exact same spot that they had wondered off to, in utter confusion, the same green mist started to surround him. Sephiroth jumped back, trying to get away from it. It seemed to follow him though. How... odd. He jumped back again, carrying his massive sword with him. He had had it with him the entire time....

Within minutes Sephiroth disappeared just like Yuffie, Cloud, Vincent, and Tifa had moments before.



***



Ripley walked to the spot where she was certain that she had seen two sets of people vanish. This was just too strange. First that… thing, that huge object that came from the sky… then, an airship almost crashing into the mountain that was her home for the past few years. Then there were people disappearing. After that, some strange, good-looking man with the most exquisite sword that she had ever seen had shown up, looking battered and bruised. She was about to warn him when he, too, disappeared.

She was scared. Had someone been there to ask, she would have said no, but she was anyways. Suddenly she heard someone call to her.

"Hey, you! Did you see anyone come out of the airship that just went down? We're missing four people."

Ripley was about to reply when she saw a green mist and groaned. Soon, she was gone to a world that she had never heard or thought of.

Cid stared at where he thought he had just seen a girl disappear. "Nope," he said. "Didn't see a thing." He turned around and called to the rest of the group. "No one over here. You find anything?" he walked back and tried to forget what he thought that he had seen.



***



The sky darkened for just a moment as something fell from the sky. Then it happened twice more. The chocobos shifted from foot to foot, restless and unnerved by the changes in light. All was silent as heads came up, arguments stopped, and tears were dried. This could be something that boded ominous events.

Mel looked at her companions. There was Selphie, standing with the nervous chocobos; Seifer, standing near her, just as ruffled and bothered as the chocobos; and Zell. Her now ex-boyfriend, he had just dumped her for being "too depressing and melodramatic". He wanted someone who wouldn't be such a damper on his sanity. Apparently, he had brought Seifer and Selphie out with him to "keep her from going crazy". She was about to say something when the sky had changed.

"Seifer," she said, tentatively. "Were those things sorceress-like in any way?"

He shook his head as he strode to his chocobo. "The energy around it was but not them." Zell was about to comment on the assumption of people when Seifer cut him off. "And they are people. Wasn't a knight for nothing." He hopped on his chocobo and beckoned to Mel. She picked up her gunblade, Mnemosyne, and started to follow Seifer when she stopped and walked back to Zell. She drew back her hand and threw a right hook square into his jaw. She then ran over and jumped on her chocobo.

Selphie, already on the giant bird, waited for Zell. When he just stood there with his hand on his jaw, she glared at him and grabbed him by the collar. She swung him up onto the back of her chocobo and took off, ignoring his yells and screams.

Well, not necessarily. She couldn't help enjoying it.



***

There was a very, very loud crash. Just to the brink of ear splitting, but maybe not so as Tifa, Cloud, Vincent, and Yuffie crashed down to the ground, with an enormous thud. All of them groaned. They had hit the ground so hard that for a moment there Yuffie was thinking that she had broken something.

Then she noticed that someone had landed on her. Three people actually. She squirmed around, trying to get out from under everyone else. They seemed to be momentarily knocked out, oh... No. Wait. Her vision was blurred with a bunch of red and black. Red being fabric and the black being hair...

"Vincent, get the hell off me!" She was half way out from underneath him, her legs having gotten stuck under his chest. Geez... the guy was extremely quiet, sure as hell knew how to use his Death Penalty, but to the young ninja he seemed to weigh a ton. More then that, maybe.

She had squirmed her way out from underneath Cloud and Tifa, Vincent now being the only one that seemed to be knocking the wind out of her. She glared at him when he sat up, letting her feet go. He didn't say anything, being that he was always quiet anyway. She stayed clear of his claw though; she didn't want to accidentally get cut or something. She quickly drew her feet back though.

Cloud sat up, immediately realizing that he'd landed on Tifa's chest. She had a pretty nasty looking gash on the top of her forehead, probably having gotten when the Highwind crashed. He rubbed his eyes, trying to clear his vision, which was just a bit blurry. "Tifa?" he asked, she wasn't conscious.

There wasn't an answer, but she was breathing so Cloud knew that she was all right. Yuffie scrambled over to where the two were, wondering if she would have to use some Materia or not. She was also feeling just little worried for her friend.

Vincent stood, looking around their surroundings. He couldn't really think what to make of it, but there was one thing that was for sure. They sure as hell weren't on their planet any more. This... place, is what he was going to refer to it right then, was different. There was a forest right near by, just a small one. In the distance he could see the outline of a cave... of some sort. With his enhanced senses he could see a monster of some sort, almost just like a... humongous bug. He shook his head for a second, and went on looking at it. There was no reason to worry about getting attacked though...

"Vincent! Hello! You're the one with the Cure Materia, so get over here!" Yuffie yelped, sending a look at Vincent. He sighed, then nodded and walked over to where Cloud, Tifa, and the ninja were. Vincent took the Cure out of his Death Penalty, and then all but shoved it in Yuffie's hand.

"Here."

Yuffie nodded, ignoring that one word that he said. She studied the Materia for a minute, and noticed that it didn't have the normal green glow to it that Materia usually was supposed to have. She looked confused, but still stuck it in her Conformer and then tried it anyway. Not so much as a spark of different colors.

"Hey... it's not working!" She complained. "Are you sure this is Cure Materia? Not some dud that you found in the creepy mansion you live in?" Vincent shot her a look.

"Of course I'm sure that--" Cloud and Vincent both jumped back when she yanked it out of her weapon and hit the Materia on a rock suddenly. Nothing.

"Hey!" Cloud yelped, glaring at the ninja. "What are you trying to do, blow us up or something?!"

Yuffie rolled her eyes. "This isn't dangerous Materia, other wise I wouldn't be doing this. It's not working." The Materia hunter frowned then tossed it at Vincent's feet, repeating what she had said the moment that Vincent had handed the materia to her. "Piece of crap..." She said, cursing the small orb.

Vincent only frowned, that same Materia had been what saved Cloud and the other's butts a few hours ago when they were fighting Sephiroth. Just he hadn't had it equipped, but he knew that it worked because it was the only form of Mastered Materia that they had. Then he heard a few noises, some shuffling in a near by bush.

Vincent turned around, and just stood there for a minute. There was some more shuffling around, but then it suddenly stopped. His red eyes narrowed, and Vincent approached the bush as Cloud and Yuffie started to argue a little. Tifa had woken up, and she seemed to have a huge headache. She told the leader of AVALANCHE and the ninja to both shut up, but that didn't work.

Vincent walked up to the bush, drew the Death Penalty, and pulled the leaves back. A woman fell out afterwards, hitting her head and muttering "ouch!"

He gave her a cold look, but that was when a blond man came out. They didn't say anything, just looked at each other with looks that told Vincent they were studying each other. "Cloud, Yuffie, Tifa." Vincent said, turning to look at his comrades, "I think we may have visitors."



***



And so ends chapter one. Thank you for joining us in this verbal delight. *Gigglegiggle* ok, I'm done. Oh, and here's the little author's notes.

The name Mnemosyne comes from Greek mythology. There were twelve titans, most of whose names were used as names for the moons of Jupiter. If you're like me, you'll have already found out that Hyperion was one of them, the father of the sun, moon and stars. If not, well, now you know. Mnemosyne is the goddess of memory. She was the daughter of Gaea, the goddess of the earth, and Uranus, god of the heavens. She was the mother of the nine muses, whose father was Zeus, king of the gods.

Ok, I'm done with this history lesson. Anything that you want to say, Marsbar15?

Eh heh, yeah. Just wanted to say, that because this is a Final Fantasy VII and VIII crossover, I'll be changing over back and fourth every now and then. To let ya' know what in the world is going on with the rest of AVALANCHE. I can't abandon the other characters... it seems... inhuman. Okay, maybe I love Cid Highwind just a little bit too much... O_o. Nevermind. *giggles insanely* Um, anyway, uh... I'm done. I think... O_o.. One other thing, heh. There's a very good reason that when Yuffie went to use the Cure Materia on Tifa that it didn't work, and this isn't because they aren't on the Planet. (Hey, there really wasn't a name for the planet that they lived on in the game.... unless you wanna call it Earth. *shrug*) But, unfortunately... that'll be showed as we go on with the story...

Alright. Now I'm done. *grin* Ack.. *re-reading* I have the characters think too much... *people looking at her oddly* What?