Okay, I'm going out on a limb here. I'm trying something completely new. Lord help us all. I have no idea how this will wind up, but I just thought I needed something a little different. It's a lot different than my other writing. I'm really sorry I keep doing this to all my other readers. I'm having severe writers' block with all my other stories, so I thought, hey! Let's try something NEW! Which explains my being here right now blabbing on. I'm going to try and make this one longer than all my others…we'll see how that works out, eh?

Chapter 1: Into the game!

After another grueling day at my dear high school, I trudge home and throw my books in the floor of my bedroom.

To be blunt, my life sucks right now. I have drama going on with my best friend, who can never seem to stay with one guy for longer than a few days, and then finds some way to take it out on the innocent civilians around her. My honors classes are piling it up and preparing for the End-of-Course exams.

I sigh heavily and pad into the kitchen in my socks. After rummaging through the cupboards, the pantry, the freezer, and the refrigerator, I settle on a tube of chocolate chip cookie dough. Considering I'm lactose intolerant, I don't want to end the beautiful (the sun hasn't shined all day) day with me getting sick all over the place.

With a strangely chipper hop to my step, I take my cookie dough to my bedroom for some much needed quality time with the Playstation Dos! I crack open the tube of sweet, delicious dough and have just taken a bite when I realize I forgot something to drink! Shrugging, I place the tube on the shelf on my wall next to my line of video games. I start up the PS2, prepared to play whatever is already in the player, and walk BACK into the kitchen for a coke or something. I pour the contents into a cup and add ice so it won't burn my throat. Coke does that for some reason…I also hear it's a good toilet cleaner. But let's not think about that when I'm about to be drinking it, eh?

Once again in my bedroom, I swap out the tube of cookie dough with my glass, placing it instead on the shelf and toss the tube on my bed where I intend to be laying when I start playing the game. I absently hum the music to the opening movie of Final Fantasy VIII. I turn around to look at the screen, and as I do I hear a CRASH from my right. I jump approximately three feet in the air as my shelf collapses. In a rush, I fall to my knees to try and clean up the mess. In an attempt to hastily save my video game cases for the sticky substance known as Coca-Cola, I accidentally grab my PS2 controller.

Before I can even begin to move out of the way, the Playstation comes crashing down as well. I'm torn between jumping out of the way and trying to rescue it from my hardwood floor. It doesn't really matter in the end.

With a comical THWUMP the corner of the black Playstation 2 hits the back of my head. My last thought before passing out is, 'Holy crap, that hurt!'

When I awake, my first reaction is to grab my head and groan loudly. I roll over, expecting to feel the stickiness of the coke all over the side of my face, or perhaps some part of the game system that caused its master so much hurt, or maybe even the cup or a video game case.

What I feel instead is…warm grass. I sit straight up and look around. Not ten feet to my left is a beach. Right in front of me is a town. My eyes fall across the black pavement of a road, and I follow it across the grass up to…

Balamb Garden?

Holy shit! Am I dreaming? I've got to be dreaming. I've hit my head, and I've gone loony. I pinch myself to see if I'm having some kind of out-of-body experience, but instead all I get is pain and a red spot on my arm.

This doesn't feel like a dream. You know how usually when you dream and you're IN your dream…it doesn't ever feel real?

Well, this isn't like that. I can feel the wind brushing through my curly brown locks, and I can feel the sun on my pale skin.

A brief touch of the back of my head and I realize I have a rather large bump on my head. How typical. First I ruin my floor and my video games, and now that I'm stuck IN a video game, I can't even escape the headache I got getting here.

Next question, I think as I stand up, would be how to get out of…whoa. I glance down at myself. What a transformation. This morning I distinctly remember getting up and putting on a pair of baggy light colored blue jeans and a long-sleeved blue shirt. Now, I am wearing black, form fitting jeans and a black short-sleeved shirt. A quick inspection and I also realize I'm wearing black leather boots that I've never seen before in my life—until now. How very odd, and that's saying something considering present circumstances.

So what do I do now? I'm unarmed and I am in the middle of—apparently—Final Fantasy VIII. I raise my arms to stretch, and when I arch my back I feel something against my back.

I spin around with my fists raised, thinking—maybe—whatever it is won't eat me or anything.

There's nothing there.

I turn around in the other direction and look, but still nothing reveals itself. Cautiously, I reach behind me and gasp.

I think that's a…yeah surely that's a…I have a sword sheath attached to my back. I reach up and pull it out of the sheath. Wow. I have a sword at my house, but it isn't real. The odd thing is, this sword looks almost exactly like the one I have in the real world. Probably an object of my own creation, considering this is my dream. I refuse to believe it isn't, by the way. This is impossible.

"Hello, Kate."

I screech and spin around to see a little white-headed boy standing there. He can't be older than five, and he barely comes up to my waist. He's kind of cute, really. His eyes are black, which is a little unnerving, but he doesn't seem threatening.

"Who are you?" I ask, eyeing him warily.

"I'm your Playstation 2. You can call me Billy."

I give him a blank stare for that one. "Come again?"

He motions to Balamb Garden. "Walk with me, Kate."

I watch him—Billy—walk slowly and shrug to myself. What harm could it do? I sheath my sword and jog to catch up with him. These pants are awesome. They fit perfectly. You have no idea how hard it is to find clothes that actually fit my form, so when I do it feels very good.

"You were having a bad day, weren't you?" Billy asks me.

I think back to my day and shrug. "Yeah, I suppose. A bad couple of days, actually."

"Well, I didn't like that. So, I brought you here."

"I don't understand." I bite the inside of my cheek thoughtfully—it's a bad habit.

"Just think of it like this. I brought you here to give you some time off from your life. I know this is your favorite game, so I thought you wouldn't mind spending some time here."

"How much time?" I ask, eyeing him.

"As long as it takes for you to beat the game."

"Won't my parents miss me? They get home at five everyday," I counter, still wondering if I've lost it—it being my mind.

"You haven't lost it, and no time will pass while you're here in the real world. You still have quite some mess to clean up later, too."

"But I've never beat the game before. I always get stuck somewhere."

He stares up at me with endless black eyes and I gulp nervously. "Then I guess you've got some work to do, sparky." He smiles, and suddenly I feel the irrational impulse to pinch his cheek. "Now for the rules."

"You are to go through the storyline as you normally would if you were playing the game. Don't worry, I took necessary measures to ensure you a role in the plot. Now, depending on what you do, some things may or may not be changed—."

"Wait, what do you mean?"

We step onto the pavement and follow it toward Balamb Garden. I have a feeling that's where my destination is anyway, and he's trying to inconspicuously drop me off. If that's the case, he sucks at being inconspicuous. And another thing I can't help but notice is that Billy takes nearly two steps for every one of mine. He's so adorable!

"I mean that if you decide to stab Seifer before he falls into Edea's trap, you'll screw everything up. Be careful, or you might wind up with innocent dead people on your hands." I've always known little kids are scary. Like in The Ring and The Grudge. And that one little sentence that he just said, and the way he said it, gave me chills in the warm sunlight. I swallow thickly and wait for him to continue.

"You'll get a GF and all that good stuff. You have a dorm room, and here's the keycard to get in. You have a class schedule; you have everything you'll need to get started. You'll have to get Quistis to give you your GF later, or get it off the desk panel."

"Yeah, I remember doing that in the game with Squall," I say numbly. This is really happening. This kiddo isn't joking. I'm really gonna have to do this.

"Hoo, boy." I rub the back of my neck, which is steadily getting warmer from the sunlight. It's winter at home, so this is a bit of difference. Besides that, I'm wearing all black. "Hey, why did you put me in black?" I'm assuming he's the one who picked out my clothes, since he seems to be in charge of everything else.

He shrugs. "Black is kind of intimidating."

"I'm intimidating?" I ask, flashing a grin that's anything BUT intimidating.

Billy shakes his head. "No, which is why I put you in that. You'll need all the help you can get."

"Hey!" I protest and put my hands on my hips.

"Anyway, you have homeroom in ten minutes with Quistis Trepe. I'm assuming you remember where her class is?"

I nod mechanically. "Yeah, second floor, last door on the right."

"Good. I'm outta here. I'll be back in a bit to see how you're doing." With that, and my shouts for him to hang on a second, go unheeded. He disappears before my eyes with an amusing pop.

With a moan of frustration and a few curses at white-headed kids around the world (this one and the real one) I begin the trek to the school. There is no way I'm going to make it to homeroom on time, so why bother rushing?

I'm almost there when I hear this buzzing sound. I spin around to see a Bite Bug flying right towards me! Instinct kicks in and I dive to the ground, barely avoiding being pummeled to death. I jump back to my feet, and this time when it zooms toward me it makes contact.

I land flat on my back with the air knocked out of me. Not to mention that sheath is digging into my back. Wait…sheath! Sheath means sword!

I hop back to my feet AGAIN, and draw my sword out. It's similar to a samurai sword, with a wicked looking curve to the metal. When the thing flashes toward me again, I swipe blindly through the air, turning my head to the side to prepare for impact or bug guts or whatever else might happen.

Still awaiting an attack, I peek one eye open. And then, when I see no more Bite Bug, I open my other eye. The ugly creature is lying at my feet, legs splayed across the ground.

I killed it. I killed my first monster. I did it!

Elation surges through me, and I find myself hopping up and down in the middle of the field. I kick the bug, and when it jerks I find myself yelping and hopping back about ten feet, sword in hand. When I'm sure it's dead and not playing around, I walk around it and continue on my way.

Thankfully, I'm not attacked anymore. I might cry if I was. Hey, you can call me a coward or whatever else you want, but that was scary! That was my first fight ever…and I killed it with a SWORD! If it takes a sword to swat the flies here, however will I survive the stuff later? Like Diablos? And Ifrit?

Anyway, when I get into the building I'm greeted with, "Hi, Kate!" after "Hey, Kate. What's going on?" and then a little of, "Hey, girl!"

I don't know any of these people, I think as I try to smile politely at everyone that says my name. Thankfully, there aren't too many of them. Five people in all, I think. Everyone else went to homeroom like ten minutes ago, according to Billy.

Sighing with fatigue and dreaming of my precious bed, I journey up the stairs and into the elevator, which takes me to the second floor. Then, I meander down the hallway—yes I said meander. I like taking my time, and this is all a bit much to take in. I'm torn between staring at everything in awe and being upset because I never got to finish my cookie dough at home.

At Quistis' classroom door, I consider knocking. Well, this is my homeroom, so why should I knock? I open the door and walk inside, and immediately regret the action. Quistis turns to look at me, eyes displaying a bit of annoyance that I am late. And when she turns, so does eevveerryyoonnee else. Including two certain young men that will be occupying most of my time from here until God knows when.

"Why are you late, Kate?" Heh heh, that rhymed.

Shifting nervously from foot to foot, I try to think of a quick excuse to use. "I overslept." It always used to work at home.

She scrutinizes me for a few more seconds—in which time I suddenly become interested in the floor—and nods to herself. "Take a seat."

I glance up at the room and look for the only available seat in the room. Guess where it is? Well, you know where Squall sits in the game? And it's like right next to the aisle? And Seifer's on the other side of said aisle? Now consider Squall is sitting one seat to his left, leaving the seat between them open.

This is going to be oh-so-much fun. I can tell already.

I reluctantly go sit between them, noticing how they both have thick scabs across their noses/foreheads. Yup, I remember watching that before my Playstation decided to go suicidal and jump off my dresser onto my head. But in person, those cuts look much more painful than they do in the game. I fight off a grimace when I glance over at Seifer and see a bit of dried blood there. I doubt he even went back to his room to clean up before coming here. And considering Squall's cut is on his left side, and I'm sitting on his right, I can't see his unless I want to lean over and make myself obvious.

And that'll happen soon, sure (NOT!).

"I'll meet the field exam participants this afternoon," Quistis dismissed the class. "And Squall and Kate, I need to talk to you."

I swear Seifer was laughing as he got up and stalked out of the classroom. I watch him go and stand up as Squall does. Together, we interrupt the Trepies talking to Quistis and they move out of the way to let us talk to her.

"You haven't been to the Fire Cavern yet, have you? You won't be able to take part in today's field exam if you don't pass this prerequisite," she explains.

I hear Squall mutter, "I was going to go this morning, but Seifer…" Don't worry Squally boy. I understand. It was almost like I was there with you, buddy ol' pal.

"Do you have a good excuse?" She asks, looking from one to the other of us.

I shake my head, and Squall mumbles, "Not really…"

Quistis offers a ghost of a smile. "Then let's get going. If you're not too confident yet, you can review your studies at the Study Panel. I'll be waiting at the front gate, so come down when you're ready."

For safety's sake, I go sit back down and access the study panel, along with Squall. We sit down together—talk about awkward silences—and look at the computer screen.

The Study Panel only serves as entertainment mostly. The Message Board was interesting, what with Zell talking about hotdogs and the librarian wishing him luck on his exam today. I'll bet that's why he's so hyper in the video game later.

I was hoping for a bit of basics about sword fighting, but I doubted it would be on here. Looks like I'm on my own. Damn…

I exit from the panel and stand up to stretch. The straps from the sheath are beginning to bug me. They're these thin leather straps that go on like a backpack and have this clip thing just above the breast to make sure it doesn't fall off your shoulders while you're fighting—I assume. And so, I unclip the clippie thing and shrug it off with some difficulty. It actually gets stuck on my elbow—how embarrassing.

I make an unconscious squeaking noise, and then I suddenly feel a gentle but firm hand grab the sword and tug it down. Oh, how sweet of you Squall. I didn't know you cared.

Needless to say, that leaves us feeling a bit more awkward than before.

"…Thanks." I say, trying to smile.

He shrugs. "Whatever."

Is he embarrassed? For helping me? Well, just to piss him off more I decide to walk with him down to the front gate.

I follow him into the hallway, sword sheath in hand, and am about to turn into the hallway that will lead us to the elevator when I hear a shrill, "I'm late, I'm late, I'm LATE!"

And then I'm suddenly on the ground with the weight of something probably no heavier than a Bite Bug on top of me. Yeah, talk about not good. Selphie…er…I don't know that yet, do I? Okay, this girl practically bounces off me and pulls me to my feet.

"Hey, are you okay?" She asks.

I nod dazedly. "Yeah, are you?"

"Yeah, I think so. Tee-hee. Sorry about that. I'm new here, and I don't know where to go. Hey, did you just get out of that class? Is…homeroom over?"

Squall and I both nod.

"Oooh…oh noooo. This Garden is soooooo much bigger than my last one. I just transferred here from Trabia Garden. Hey, do you guys think you can give me a quick tour or something if you aren't busy?"

I glance at Squall for confirmation, who shakes his head very minutely. I grimace. "Well," I say, "we were about to go take a test right now, or something like a test. So we can't right now. But hey, maybe I'll find you later and I'll give you the grand tour, okay?" I'm pretty sure I know where everything is, and I feel bad just blowing her off.

She nods. "Okay! See you later, then."

And with that she bounces away, humming some crazy tune. They aren't as detailed in the game as they are for real. In the game she walks away…she doesn't skip. How interesting. I wonder if Squall bounces or skips…I doubt it. Just think about that for a minute though…Squall…skipping. And smiling! Things that make you go…HEE HEE!

Okay enough rambling. Squall gives me a deadly glare for volunteering to show the poor girl around.

"What?" I challenge, hands on hips. "I didn't say you had to show her around with me later, did I? No, I didn't. So what's your problem, sparky?" I stole that word from Billy. I actually think I've said it before and he stole it from me, so it's free for the taking.

"Sparky?" He asks.

I nod. "Yeah. Oh, come on. We're going to be late. I don't expect you to understand what makes me tick, and I don't expect you to try."

"I wasn't going to," he grumbles.

I choose to ignore him. I don't think he wanted to be heard, anyway. He's one of those people that say things under their breath, in case you didn't get that from the game. He even did that turning of the head thing so I can't read his lips, either. How very mature, Squall. I shall blow you a mental raspberry. Thfffffft. Take that! I know what you're going to say. Now who's being the mature one, Kate? Well, I can't help it. Squall is frustrating, and I haven't even been in his presence for ten minutes yet. Imagine days of this…months! However long it takes us to defeat the Sorceress.

I sigh aloud, and he glances at me but doesn't say anything. We get outside and I begin to restrap my sword back into place when I see Quistis standing at the gate.

This whole Fire Cavern thing is making me a bit anxious. I am about to face Ifrit FOR REAL! That strikes fear into the soul, people. Seriously.

Ah! Chapter 1 is finished at last. How was it? Muy Bien (very good)? Not so good? Sucking big monkey bad things? Let me know! Just hit that little review button down there. Should I even bother with continuing? It's been stuck in my head for a while now, and I wanted to see how I was at it. So…how was I at it?