Disclaimer: I do not own FF9. That belongs to Square Enix and the rest of those lucky peeps. Also, as a side note, its illegal to download a game you don't actually own. Im just say'n...Anywho, here we go...

Chapter One: NO IDEA

I can seriously say, without any doubt in my mind, that I have NO IDEA whats going on.

My day had started out normally enough. I had just got back from my collage math class ( which by the way was horrible. Damn you algebra!) and had made it back to my one room apartment not 15 minutes previous. I'd flopped down on my bed, my laptop not a few feet away and my game controller in my hands. In collage, I had found it SO much easier to put all my games as roms on my computer. Much less likely they'd get taken off with like my Legend of Dragoon and my Parasite Eve had already. Still don't know for the life of me WHY someone wanted them, but whatever.

After mulling over what it was that I had wanted to play, I finally decided on Final Fantasy 9. Good story, good characters, and I hadn't played it in about 3 years, so hey, seemed like a good time to start a new file. Going into my game screen and loading up my PSX, I inserted my FF9 iso, and waited for it to boot up.

…..

Nothing.

Just a blank screen.

I'd cursed, and tried to reset it, but my whole computer had froze. Cursing even more, I whacked the top corner of my computer, and went to force a shutdown, when the whole screen went white. I panicked, thinking 'OMG, I think I just broke my computer!' and suddenly Final Fantasy 9 started to play. Confused, I sat back, thinking that maybe it had fixed itself, when the lights in the house started turning on and off, then went out completely.

I was getting a little nervous, thinking maybe there were spooks in my apartment or something ( to much watching ghost hunters and paranormal state) and my computer screen was getting bright to the point where I had to cover my eyes. A sudden feeling of vertigo came over me, and I clamped my eyes shut to avoid nausea. Then it felt as though I was falling (off my bed?) and I opened my eyes to see what was going on.

I immediately regretted it.

I was heading quickly towards the ground. A paved road. A paved road with people on it. And I was about to fall on one of them.

I have NO IDEA whats going on.

~oOo~

A little boy walked down the street, clutching his ticket to his chest tightly. Alexandria was so big! Much bigger than his grandpa had described to him. And there were so many people! He adjusted a hat, a habit he had when he was nervous. Now if only he could find that ticket booth...

"HEY! LOOK OUT!"

Vivi blinked in confusion, wondering where the voice had come from. Not the left, not the right, he looked up, and his yellow orbs widened.

BAM!

Vivi and the person on top of him groaned. That had really hurt! The person shifted, moving off of him, and he pushed himself up as well.

"Hey, are you all r-" The person, a girl in her late teens, early twenties, with shoulder length white blonde hair and green eyes started to say, but froze. Not like just stopping her sentence froze, but full bodied, wide eyed spooked froze.

"Miss, are...are you alright?" Vivi asked tentatively, getting more and more nervous as she just stared at him. "Miss?"

She blinked seeming to come out of her daze, and cautiously looked around her.

"I really need to lay off those late night taco runs. They got me hallucinating again." She mumbled wide eyed.

Vivi had NO IDEA what she was talking about.

~oOo~

"Miss?"

I looked over to the one that I knew had to be Vivi, but, well, that can't be right. Vivi was a character in a game. And I was...well, I wasn't. So none of this made any sense. I mean, sure, i've had dreams where final fantasy character would randomly make a guest appearance, like a dream world easter egg, but all this seemed so real..like my scraped elbow, and the throbbing in my side where I landed on him, and him talking to me...wait.

"Uh... yeah, sorry um...kid." I said, standing up and brushing off the dirt on my knee length tan cargo shorts. Actually, now that I see it, I'm still wearing what I had on a moment ago. That's weird. Normally I have on crazy stuff in my dreams. But nope, just my shorts, my gray and blue vans, my black t-shirt with a gray elbow length shirt over it and my black fingerless gloves. How boring.

Vivi stood up as well, brushing off his blue coat, then looked up at me.

"I..It's all right." He said, then his eyes widened, and he started patting himself. "Oh no! Wh-where is it?"

"Where's what?' I asked.

"My ticket! It's gone!" He exclaimed, and started to sniffle.

Oh man. It's even a fake too. I thought to myself, but hearing the little guy cry, even if this was a taco induced dream, still made me feel bad.

I started looking around our feet, and sure enough, laying on the ground a little ways away was the ticket. I reached down, grasping it in my hands, and held it out to the little guy.

"Here kid, don't cry. Is this it?"

His sniffles stopped and, well, I think he smiled. Not really sure what's going on under that hat of his.

"Th-thank you miss!"

I nodded.

"No problem" I said. "And enough with the 'miss' thing. My grandma says that. Names Aires"

Well, not really, more of a nickname actually.

"V-Vivi" He replied.

"Okay Vivi. Why don't we go get your ticket to the check-in counter?"

He nodded enthusiastically, and started walking towards the town square where the ticket counter was. I hung back a few steps behind him, absorbing my surroundings. It was mostly like how I remembered it from the game, banners strung up all over the place, weird looking people wandering around (that guy was a hippo!) and looking up I could see airships. AIRSHIPS. Wow was this ever the most detailed dream that I've ever had. So absorbed was I in looking around that it downright startled me when suddenly I heard,

"NOOOOOOOOOO!"

Oh, he must have just been told his ticket was a fake. Poor kid.

I walked up to Vivi, putting a hand on his shoulder. Looking at the ticket master, who looked like some weird...dog...hybrid...thing, I asked,

"Sir, isn't there anything you can do for him?"

The ticket master shook his head, looking down sadly at the sniffling Vivi.

"No, I'm sorry. We've been getting a lot of these fakes today to." He replied, then reached into his pocket, handing Vivi what I recognized to be Tetra Master cards. "Here kid. Maybe these will make you feel better"

Wow those are some lame cards. Goblin, Fang, and Skeleton? Kids prolly find better cards in their breakfast cereal.

"Thanks" I heard Vivi say dejectedly. Didn't take a genius to know it didn't make him feel better.

"Come on Vivi" I said, looking down at the little black mage, taking his hand. "We'll go figure something else out."

Like roof hopping!

"We...we will?" He asked, seeming to be pretty confused as to why I was helping him when I'd just met him.

"Of course!" I replied.

With Vivi in hand, we walked down the alleyway that I figured would be the one we'd meet up with Puck in. When I saw the guy on the ladder hammering away at a sign, I knew I was right. With a smile on my face, we went down the alley, carefully avoiding bumping into the ladder. We just waved, and with a confused expression, he slowly waved back, shook his head, and continued hammering.

"Did you know him Aires?" Vivi asked me quietly.

"Naw." I replied. "Just felt like it"

"Oh. Alrighty then"

It was near the end of the alleyway that I spotted Puck. He was standing there, looking much like the little street waif he was pretending to be. Hard to believe he was really a prince. Spotting us, he waved over to Vivi, who seemed to be happy to see a familiar face.

"Hey, what are you doing out here?" He said to Vivi, not even seeming to notice me.

"Well..my ticket.." Vivi began, but the rat kid cut him off with a devious smile.

"So you got yourself a fake, huh? Tough break there. Looki'n for a way in?"

Vivi nodded, eyes wide.

"Well.." Puck began, looking from Vivi and noticing me. "If you two want to get in, you gotta be my slaves!"

Hell to the no i'm gonna be his slave. I growled internally.

"O..okay" Vivi agreed, a little to readily in my opinion. I knew how to get up there, and I didn't think id be able to put up with someone bossing me around in my own dream.

"Great!" The rat kid exclaimed. "Follow me!"

"Oi, I don't remember agreeing to this!" I growled out, eyes narrowed.

All the kid did was turn around, stick his tongue out at me, and say "To bad!" Before taking off down the street.

I could actually FEEL my eyebrow twitch.

Vivi looked up at me, his eyes wide and questioning. He really did look like a little kid like that.

"Aren't we gonna go?" He asked in a small voice.

I sighed, rubbing my eyes with my free hand, wondering when I was going to wake up. Mr. Ruther was going to go homicidal on my ass if I didn't turn in my essay tomorrow on 'The Tale of Two Cities'. I swear, seems like the older a teacher gets, the more generally angry they become.

"Yeah, let's go."

~oOo~

"So if we climb up this ladder, we can get there, right?"

Puck nodded, and I glanced up the, in my opinion, death trap.

Wonder where the moogle is?

"-an go first" Puck finished saying to Vivi.

Crap! Missed it!

"What?"

"I said." Puck started, looking at me "That you can go first!"

I blinked. But If I did that, a moogle's gonna land on me!

But it should be okay right? It's just a dream, or tacos...but either way, it shouldn't hurt, right? But, the whole falling thing hurt...maybe I fell outta bed and it was incorporated into my dream? Yeah, that must be it! So, everything's gonna be just fine!

With that thought in my head, I grabbed onto the ladder and started climbing my way up, totally confident that everything would work out.

"Kupo.."

?

"Kupoooooooooooooo!"

I looked up and OH MY GOD!

BAM!

I felt the ground underneath me again, and a solid pain in my tailbone where I had landed.

Owwwwwww...wait, ow?

"You alright kupo?"

"Aires! You okay?"

I looked up at the moogle, then over at a concerned Vivi and an indifferent Puck. I must have had a strange look on my face to as Vivi seemed to be getting even more worried.

"Uh, yeah" I replied. "Just, was pretty startled is all."

Vivi, though hesitantly, seemed to accept this answer, and the moogle jumped off of me, winding me some. I groaned, standing up and rubbing my sore tailbone. This was turning out to be a lot weirder than I first imagined. What if everything is seeming so real because...?

"Well, now that everythin's outta there, guess i'll be heading up then" Puck suddenly declared, grasping the ladder and effortlessly climbing up to the top. "Follow me slaves!"

"Why that little-"

I felt a tugging at my shirt, and looked down to see Vivi looking at me expectantly. Sighing, I scratched the back of my head more on reflex then anything.

"Well, lets go I guess. Hopefully no more moogles attack us on the way up." I said, walking over to the ladder. "Why don't you go up first Vivi? Ill be right behind you in case you slip."

He nodded nervously, then grasped the ladder, making a slow climb up, me following right behind. I really didn't like this ladder either, with every step the thing felt like it was about to break on you. Vivi must have felt like this as well, I could hear him whimpering every few steps when the wood would creak ominously.

When we reached the top, I saw Puck waiting there impatiently, his foot tapping an the roof and his arms folded over his chest. I narrowed my eyes at him, and he just snickered at me. Unfolding his arms, he pointed out over the houses.

"This way slaves!"

He quickly made his way over a series of wooden planks stretched out over the rooftops as if they were nothing. Stopping at the fourth roof, he turned around, waving us over.

I looked at Vivi, Vivi looked at me. We both looked at the wooden planks. Both of us had the same thing in mind.

We are SO not gonna make it over!

Puck had NO IDEA what their problem was.

~oOo~

I was panting, gripping onto my knees and trying to stop my racing heart. Almost every plank I went across broke in the midst of me crossing it, causing me to do a run/jump in order for me to make it to the other side. It was a good thing that Vivi was in front of me whilst we were doing this to, otherwise I hadn't a clue as to how he would have made it.

"You...little bastard. Those things...have like what...a 30 pound weight limit?" I said while catching my breath.

Puck shrugged nonchalantly.

"Don't know. Never brought someone across as fat as you before"

I think I saw red...yep. There was definitively red lining my vision.

"You...you...! I'm 112 pounds of AWESOME over here! That is FAR from FAT!" I exclaimed. I could feel my hands twitching. No, better not strangulate the prince of Burmecia...

"Whatever helps you sleep at night."

On second thought...

"Mister Puck? How much farther?" I suddenly heard Vivi ask.

Puck looked over, then pointed to a building next to us.

"Once we cross this building, there's a gap in the wall that'll let us slip in unnoticed by the guards. After that, you guys are on your own." He stated to the black mage, then started down the building and disappeared into a hole I hadn't even noticed before.

I sighed.

"Well, I guess here we go Vivi."

I grabbed his hand again, helping him balance over the last stretch and we approached the hole. Vivi crawled in first, but I eyes it wearily. I may be kinda small, but this was gonna be a tight fit. I put my head in first, and shimmied my was through, feeling someone on the other side grasp onto my hands and help pull me the rest of the way though.

"Thanks Vivi" I said, setting my feet down on the ground and looking around me.

The room was crowded with people, very exited people. On further inspection I could see Zidane and Blank playing out their fighting scene in the middle walkway. It was weird to watch. Even in a fake fight, they seemed pretty skilled, but at the same time, it was unnerving. The clang of their swords was ringing in my ears, the cheers of the audience, and Vivi gripping my hand tightly so as to not get lost in the crowd.

"Are...are you okay? You look...worried." I heard Vivi ask over the roar.

"Wha? No, it's cool Vivi, im fine. Just thinking. Let's just enjoy the play, shall we?" I replied.

He nodded, and we turned our attention to the play.

I had NO IDEA how this was gonna turn out.

And so you have it. The end of chapter 1. Read and review for me, will ya? It gets me to write more XD