This my first fanfiction. XD

I was inspired by mainly Tabansi and KVH ('cause their SIs are addictive- forgive me for not reviewing any of Kuro's yet). I wanted to make an SI because I had a plot that bothered me twenty four-seven, and I managed to get past one page (whootness!). Erm . . .

I'm trying to steer from 'I got sucked into my Playstation', and I hope I can pull it off.

Rated T for mild language (Kelsey is a potty-mouth ): ), use of drugs, violence, and whatever my SI, Kelsey rambles about.

Disclaimer: Final Fantasy IX -do not own-

Chapter One: Rude Awakening

Hello, my name is Kelsey Stark, and I'd like to say:

"Well, fuck this."

Excuse my French, but have you ever fallen asleep only to wake up in a dream that didn't feel like a dream? Also, in that dream were you still wearing what you went to sleep in? Of course not!

So here I was, wearing an oversized sweatshirt, sky-blue gym shorts, and fuzzy red slippers, and my hair was messed up in the back because of how I slept on it- meaning I looked like utter crap. Surprisingly, I couldn't even recall what I ate for breakfast let alone be able to remember what I was wearing, but dreaming was different I guessed. My mind must have told me that, that was what I was wearing all day, and soon I would wake up and laugh at my stupidity.

Still, if I were right then there was one way to definitely say this was a dream.

I reached for my neck, and found my lucky flash-drive dangling around it. Never mind. If my flash-drive weren't there than I'd have known I was dreaming because I rarely took it off, and I couldn't sleep without it, but since it was there then there was still a big maybe.

I squinted around to find my surroundings.

I was far-sighted, so everything far away appeared blurry, and distorted. Strangely, everyone on my mother and father's side had twenty-twenty vision, but my older brother and I were cursed with mildly horrible sight. My dream of becoming a jet fighter was long gone.

Damn! Guess that wasn't good. I hadn't slept with my glasses on because they would get bent, and if I had slept with contacts in then eventually a cadaver's eye fluids would have had to be injected into my own which was plain nasty! Just a note to all who sleep with contacts, don't. It could result with that.

Anyway, I could barely make out the tile floor which gave off a glassy reflection from the dim lighting. It must have been made of marble. Expensive. The room itself was illuminated by a large, expensive-looking chandelier overhead, so I assumed the rest of the building was just as large and expensive. It had to be a manor or castle. A very expensive manor or castle. I would never be able to afford the room itself even with all of my money ever earned in a lifetime.

"Hey! You!" The voice commanded, bouncing off walls. It belonged to a guy,.

I pointed to myself and looked around. "Me?"

"Yeah! Wait right there!" I could barely make out his form leaning over the balcony a floor above me. He looked familiar for some reason. I didn't know him, that was for sure, but that was probably just the way dreams worked. He was clothed in dull, silver armor, and a helm hid half of his face.

The guy disappeared, and I heard him running, his armor scraping with each stride. It took less than I thought for him to reach me, but he seemed in a hurry. While he was on his way down the stairs, he had skipped three steps at a time.

"Um . . ." I wondered what he wanted. A rubber duck or potato perhaps? Maybe a gorilla or an orange?

He was bent over, panting, but raised a hand to silence me. It took awhile for him to regain his composure and say calmly, "My lady, I am Weimar, a faithful knight of Pluto, and I wonder, have you seen the princess?"

That wasn't completely dream-like at all. He hadn't requested something totally ridiculous.

And my lady? I guessed he hadn't seen what I was wearing. That or some eccentric nobles were in town today. Or maybe in this dream we were having a slumber party. A medieval slumber party sounded logical. Maybe it was a sign telling me to ask my parents to throw me a slumber party. Preferably with a medieval theme.

"I haven't seen her, sorry." My voice dripped with artificial sympathy. "But if I do, I'll tell her your looking for her."

"Thank you." He beamed. "May I ask your name?"

My name? I'd rather not give him my name.

"Sure", I returned the kind gesture sarcastically. "My name is Lady Residue."

Residue, a noun meaning, part remaining. A friend of mine had pointed out that I needed a nickname, and so, open of mind and soul, she referred to her trusty dictionary. Pointing, her eyes shut, she chose a random page, and a word of enlightenment revealed itself. Residue, and from then on, although I loathed the word, it became part of me.

Okay, so not really. The nickname was forgotten in less than a week, but I felt like crap, and residue fit perfectly with my mood. Could you imagine a super-villain in a cleaning product advertisement who went by Residue, and ran around in tights, flaunting his or her huge ego? I sure could, but that was really off-topic, and had nothing to do with what I was talking about.

"Thanks . . . Lady Residue." Weimar looked at me, puzzled at my odd title.

I returned a look that was attached to the thought, My dream, my rules, buddy! Get lost if you can't deal. Of course, I doubted that thoughts could travel from one brain to another.

"I have to find her because Captain Steiner ordered me to" He explained, taking my hands and winking at me. Awkwaaard . . . "Goodbye, and I hope we talk again in a less serious situation."

He left shortly after that, leaving me alone to think.

Eww! Physical contact! Yuck! Gross! Bleh!

I wiped my palms on my shorts in disgust. It was fine if someone, like, hugged me (a friend, of course), but I was not okay with skin to skin contact, especially with complete strangers! Even if those strangers didn't exactly exist.

Wait a sec. My left hand felt funny. I brought it close to my face, and blinked a few times. It looked normal. Then, I flicked my wrist to make sure . . . still normal.

"Yup, I'm dreaming." I chuckled giddily. "'Cause dreams sure do come true, yo." At the word, yo, I burst out in a fit of laughter. Yo was such a funny word to say. To me, at least. I used it whenever I felt like I needed to laugh but was unable to do so.

What was so funny? Nothing really, other than my hand which was supposed to be crippled with morphea. Normally, my left arm was covered with dry patches, and my ring and pinkie fingers were dwarfed and wrinkled. What I had seen couldn't be reality, and yet I was so happy.

Curiously, I pulled up the sleeve of my sweatshirt as far as it would let me. No dry patches. No thin wrists and arms. Just flesh that was healthy.

"Whew!" I breathed. "This is one good dream."

Suddenly I felt really light-headed and dizzy.

"Must be pretty shocked", I mumbled groggily. Stating the obvious was a gift of mine.

I hit the floor without a complaint and everything went black. You know, was it possible to black out in a dream? Was it possible to wake up in a dream? Could you pass out in a dream that you found yourself in before passing out in the one before it? Whoa. It's a never-ending loop.

I had a teacher who told me once because I wasn't paying attention during class, 'Crack is bad! Lay off the pipe!'. Man, why couldn't I ever seem to focus, no matter how hard I tried? I meant, I didn't smoke, drink, do drugs, blah! I always got this bad mental voice that screamed no when I saw others do it, and alcohol made my stomach heave whenever I sipped it on New Year's Eve, and God! I was only fourteen! Why was I, on the edge of consciousness, rambling about things I couldn't and would never, ever do? They were illegal for me, and addictions were gross not to mention stupid!

Kelsie, signing out. Over and out. Bye-bye!

. . .

Yo, fo' shizzle. What did that mean anyway?

I drifted in and out for awhile. That saying, go with the flow, seemed to summarize it basically. It felt like only five or so minutes, but I was naturally impatient.

That was when everything turned bright. Unbearably bright that I, another dream entity of myself maybe, had to shield my eyes.

"Ow!" I cursed under my breath and hissed. "That's bright!" Again I stated the obvious.

My dreams should know that they can permanently damage my eyes. This was worse than leaving school, and getting smacked in the face with light. My school had horrible fluorescent lighting which I would never understand why because it was just built two years ago.

"Hello, Kelsey." A voice greeted me in a monotone whisper. It sounded strange, but I realized it was my voice. I had an evil twin that my parents forgot to mention. That was mind-blowing.

"No, human." The stranger snickered, "The last thing I want to be is of your kind."

I hadn't said anything so that meant she was reading my mind. Holy frick! She knew all of my secrets and personal information. The password to my email was only a thought away!

"Yes, I know everything", she clarified, uninterested. "But you shouldn't be bothered. Hiding things are bad for you."

She knew who I was, but I didn't know who she was. "Who're you?"

There was a sigh and then a pause and then I felt a breath on the back of my neck. I was petrified. Was she a rapist? A stalker? It wasn't considered normal to enter someone's dream and scare them shitless.

"You remember me, right?" She ignored my accusations. "I know you can remember me."

"You're me?" I asked her. "Is that it?"

"No." I heard bells- laughter. That wasn't my voice anymore.

"Then tell me who you are!" I was angry. "Give me something to work with!"

Who was this girl, and what did she want from me?

"I'm Moggle." She explained in a musical manner. "You know me."

The name was unfamiliar. There were no connections at all with it. "No, I don't know you."

"Think back to last time." She was using my voice again. "Think back to seven years ago." I never knew my voice could sound like that. It was so serious, too serious.

Suddenly everything started to fade, and it was pitch black like before. I didn't have to shield my eyes anymore, but all I could see were her eyes that were those of a snake. They weren't yellow though. They glowed like sunshine- almost fire the way they bore a hole through me.

"Can't you just tell me what you want?" I demanded, "I need answers!" Like mentioned I could barely remember what I ate for breakfast this morning let alone remembered something from seven years ago! She could just tell me what she needed me to know instead of hinting.

"Silly, silly, Kelsey." She sang in her bell-like voice "So young, so naive."

"What's going on?" I shouted at her as the solid ground underneath me cracked like porcelain. "Tell me now!"

I moved away from the sound underneath me, but it followed. With each step, more porcelain cracked under my weight. I was walking on thin glass not ice.

"Memorize your lines." This was a new voice, one that I recognized. It belonged to my Drama Club director. "Ad-lib if necessary." Was she messing with me?

"This isn't a dream." The bells chimed. "This is far more real than you thought.

The ground finally caught up with me and gave in, and I heard the ringing of shards of glass clinking together. I fell into the endless abyss. I wanted to scream for help, but my voice had left me.

"It looks like our time's up. We'll have another session at let's say . . . sometime tonight? You don't mind do you?"

Moggle watched me fall into the dark chasm, but the only reason I knew she didn't fall with me was because of her eyes that grew smaller and smaller as I felt mute wind rush past me. Then the pair of eyes blinked once . . . twice . . . and I was all alone again.

I felt numb. It was strange because I was unsure of if I was physically there or not.

Was I still falling? There was nothing to compare my location to so that was unknown.

Suddenly I was jerked around violently. My head lolled from side to side, threatening my neck to crack. I couldn't counter or even respond. I was just a rag doll.

I screamed, and then, I woke up.

Only to find myself in another dream.

"Can't ya hear me? Get up!" The girl had a heavy southern accent.

I groaned. "You bastard, stop shaking me!"

Hands gripped my sweatshirt which I slapped away, instinctively. They released me, but my legs were jelly. I landed in a heap on the floor, regretting my actions. My knees took most of the landing, but I was positive that they would be bruises tomorrow. That pain, I was certain, was real.

These weren't the marble floors of the castle I'd woken up on earlier. I couldn't be sure where I was exactly. The floors here were made of an unfinished wood. I was lucky that I hadn't gotten any splinters from my landing.

I looked up and focused my eyes, and a girl with blue hair was glowering at me.

"Bastard?" She scowled, "Now ain't that rude!"

I had to still be in the medieval world because this girl was dressed in a medieval dress that appeared medieval-ish. Aren't my descriptions lovely?

As for the dream from earlier, well, I decided that was a dream, and this, not so much a dream. Well, Moggle told me that this was reality, so I assumed that was my brain telling me to have a fucking revelation, and this Moggle was just a figment of my imagination. As for this situation, let's say my imagination couldn't possibly be creative enough.

So what exactly was going on? Why wasn't I having a mental breakdown? It was all about that 'go with the flow' thing which I was starting to hate. I didn't 'go with the flow'. Sure, I didn't plan anything until last minute, but that phrase sounded so god damn idiotic!

"Aren't ya gonna' apologize to me?" The woman snapped, bringing me out of my own thoughts.

"Sorry", I apologized only to make her shut up. "You just scared me is all."

"I guess I forgive ya", she responded insincerely, probably sensing my uncaring ways. "What are you doin' on here?"

Here? Where was here?

"I . . ." Just kind of' woke up here. "I . . . "

A flash of memories swarmed in my mind involuntarily. The scene was forced on me so suddenly, and I nearly staggered. It was of me and my older brother playing Playstation. The game was Final Fantasy IX, our first RPG. We were laughing for once- one of those rare sibling moments that belonged in a Hallmark card.

Why was I thinking of that?

'Because that is here.' Faint bells.

So she was real and in my head? Oh, how wonderful.

Moggle?

There was no answer.

Moggle!

I assumed she was gone, and I was on my own again, but at least I knew where I kind of, sort of was.

I had to be on the Prima Vista, the theatre ship owned by the acting thieves, Tantalus. Final Fantasy IX aka Gaia.

But why was I in the universe of Gaia? This was going to be bad. I couldn't fight monsters, and I could barely remember the order of events! It wasn't like I planned to end up in a world of magic and airships and memorized every detail. Besides, I was only twelve when I played it last! At that time all I thought about was killing monsters, and continuing the storyline.

Could I die? Would I die? Did my family realize I was missing? Why wasn't Moggle fucking answering me?

"Oh!" Ruby beamed. "You must be a fan! What's yer name?"

I'd forgotten she was there. Thankfully, she wasn't bothered by my long hiatus.

"Kelsey." I pressed a hand to my forehead. Was Moggle just my imagination? "I'm a really big fan of yours, and I admire your acting."

"That's a funny name." Ruby seemed friendly now. "Ya okay, darlin'?"

I shrugged. "Did you hear something? Like bells?"

"No." She paused to listen. "Nothin'."

That meant my brain felt I hadn't had my revelation or Moggle really did exist. Either way, voices in my head were the last thing I needed.

"While your here, can I have your autograph?" I was never a fan of anything, but I assumed this was what was usually expected, and I didn't want to attract suspicion.

Ruby sighed, "Sorry, I love givin' autographs, it's just I can't right now, but since yer a fan I'll let ya stay if ya do me a favor."

"What?" The hell?

I meant, a stranger ended up here and used the excuse 'I'm a big fan of yours ', and, Ruby just decided to let so called stranger stay on here with the reason- wait, never mind, no reason was provided.

Then again Ruby seemed rather naive in the game. She was obsessed with show business and loved acting. Leaving out her temper, she could be conceited, and it made sense for her to trust loyal fans on their word.

I lucked out. Weimar had told me that they were searching for the princess, so I guessed this was the beginning of the game. However, I had no idea how I magically ended up on the Prima Vista from the castle, and there was no way to know how long I had been unconscious. After Ruby left I was pretty sure that I had to search for some way to get onstage.

"I saw this pretty lookin' dress in a shop, 'n I just gotta' get it. It would look nice for a costume." Ruby explained, "Tell the boys I'll be back."

". . . Okay." The power of pretty things prevailed. How exactly could she trust me when she didn't even know me? I didn't even trust myself! Oh yeah, pretty dress, must get. That made perfect sense.

"Don't ya go around takin' anythin' either 'cause we'll know." Ruby threatened, "And make sure they don't leave without me!"

"Uh . . . okay." By now my brain felt like mush. "You can count on me." No you can't.

Ruby nodded and left on a dangerous quest to find the lovely dress. Of course she wouldn't make it back in time. She knew that they were kidnapping the Garnet, so why did she think she would have time or that they would wait?

I could definitely picture Zidane and friends flying away from Alexandria, and then me pointing out that they left Ruby behind. Then we would turn around on a flaming airship to get her just after having cannons fired at us only to have more ammunition flung in our direction. That sounded really logical.

Speaking of flaming airships, I had to get on the stage before that happened. Ruby was still present when Zidane was chasing Garnet, but she probably left around the time Steiner was fighting Zidane, Blank, and Cinna near the engine room. Which meant I didn't really have to rush.

I recognized the room I was in. It was the place where you got to control Zidane for the very first time- right before you explored the town of Alexandria with Vivi. There was a lamp sitting on a table in the middle of the room which the protagonist lit. I remembered that in the back there was something- gil or potions- but Ruby warned me not to take anything, and that rule most likely didn't apply to for Zidane.

It annoyed me that I hadn't noticed the similarity of the place to Gaia before Moggle showed me. Damn voice in my head making me feel like a 'tard.

If this were like the game then I could probably follow the same path of the main characters, seeing as Steiner already found a different way to the lower levels of the Prima Vista, and Blank wasn't blocking the only known entrance to the player anymore.

On my way to the entrance I passed a mirror that couldn't be seen from the player's point of view. I stopped, like most girls in my school would, and looked at myself. I had to admit I was a follower and not a leader.

I really did look craptastic! I was still in my nightwear, but I silently thanked whatever dude there was that was watching over me. At least I had clothes on my back, but as for the slippers, well, those would really be a pain to walk with in the Evil Forest . . . And I would freeze to death in the Ice Caverns with only shorts to protect my legs . . . my clothing wasn't the most protective out there. Aw, man! I hoped I would live to see graduation. College graduation would be even better.

For awhile I just made a few fruitless attempts to press down my hair. I was happy that I had donated it before I'd magically woken up here. It was only chin-length so I wouldn't have to worry about too many knots or having it fall in my face. Stinks for Garnet. Why didn't she cut it before disk three in an uncrazily fashion? It must have driven her nuts!

I must have been too caught up in my appearance because I barely noticed the peculiar glint in my eyes. With my glasses or contacts, I probably would have noticed it sooner. I leaned closer to the looking glass like the way people leaned closer to mirrors when they noticed an unattractive pimple on their face. My eyes were still brown, but the pupils were gold. The same sunshine gold as Moggle's.

I stumbled away, afraid that it wasn't my reflection, and that it would jump out of the surface and attack me like in horror movies, but it mimicked me just as it should have.

It was bizarre. I had lost so many horrible things and gained so many good, only to lose so many more good things and gain so many bad.

Was this good or bad? For now I could only think of it as neutral.

I could only make guess what my connections were with Moggle. Seven years ago something big had happened that changed my life drastically, but what it had to do with her, I was unsure.

Aaaand . . . end of sucky chapter. -is embarrassed-

I'll try to swallow a dictionary and absorb a new vocabulary, but now I gots to study for tests that I've been majorly procrastinating on.

I crave reviews. I want -cough- need constructive criticism. -puppy eyes-

Chapter two shall come whenever I get around to it, but it will probably be longer and more interesting. Yes, chapter one wasn't well thought out at all. I know. I fail at beginning stories, and I wasn't sure how exactly to introduce Kelsey to Gaia. I was more focused on getting chapter one out so that I could get the gears to start turning.