A/N: I decided that I didn't like the way the original story was progressing, so I kinda changed a lot of this story. I'll keep some scenes that I particularly liked, but that's about it. So sorry for the inconvenience.

The Rift was an acrophobiac's worst nightmare. Countless towers hovered on platforms above an endless abyss of darkness below. Personally, I hated getting too close to the edges, but my curiousity convinced me to peer over the edge of one of the platforms. There really didn't seem to be a bottom at all.

"Lia!"

A sharp voice called to me, making me flinch and nearly fall over the ledge. A hand reached out and firmly gripped me by the arm, yanking me back and away from the edge.

I stumbled backwards into cool leather. I quickly spun around, coming face-to-face with Squall Leonhart, one of my current travel companions.

He glared at me with his cold, blue eyes. "Be careful," he warned. I nodded silently, looking him in the eye.

Squall called over his shoulder, "We should get moving. Cosmos wont wait for us forever."

The other members of our little party, Bartz Klauser and Zidane Tribal, bounced their way over to us. Bartz grinned widely, which wasn't a new occurrence.

"I think I found an exit!" Bartz pointed over his shoulder with childish excitement. Zidane stared at him indignantly.

"Ahem, you mean you think I found an exit, right?"

Zidane playfully glared up at the other. Bartz laughed and waved him off.

"I noticed it before you did, monkey boy."

"Oh, really? Well-"

"Where is the exit?" I interrupted them. If they continued for too long, things could get really off track. We didn't have time for that.

Bartz looked at me with sparkling eyes. "Right. It's this way; c'mon!"

He ran off in the opposite direction while Squall, Zidane, and I followed suit. We weren't too far along before a hoard of manikins showed up. We immediately stopped in our tracks. I growled under my breath in frustration. These things disgusted me so much! Fakes, puppets, mere copies of our beings: that's all they were. My head started pounding, like my brain was pushing against my skull. My sword appeared in a burst of black flames in response to my sudden irritation. I immediately charged at the nearest enemy, an Imaginary Soldier; it was Cloud's manikin. It had some serious brute strength, but it was no match for my speed. Before it even realized it, I'd thrust my sword through its blue, crystalline neck.

Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Bartz cast Holy at two other mankins; one looked like me, while the other resembled Jecht, a warrior of Chaos. Glowing white orbs shot at them, exploding on contact.

Behind me, I heard yet another explosion. I felt a large wave of heat hit my back as I heard Squall grunt. I assumed he was using one of his fire spells.

I charged at an Imitation Despot, jumping over one of its exploding orbs. As I was aiming my sword at its head, I felt something press into my back. Judging from how it felt, was that a... boot? I assumed the worst and braced myself for an attack from behind, but it never came. Instead, I landed on my feet in front of the manikin I had planned on attacking, just as Zidane came shooting down and smashed it with his Mage Mashers.

"Hey!" I cried. "What was that for?"

Zidane looked back at me, smirking. "Sorry 'bout that, princess, but I can't let you have all the fun!"

I huffed as I stood up and brushed myself off, trying to keep my cool.

"I'll make it up to you later," Zidane promised with a wink, and he took off towards a Transient Lion.

I glared at his retreating form for a moment. I heard a whistling noise coming from behind me, so I dodged to the side just as a chunk of ice flew past. I turned around and saw a Phantasmal Harlequin skipping my way with Squall and Bartz following behind it. I sheathed my sword and balled my hands into fists; if it was gonna fight with long-range magic, I needed to fight close-range.

"Squall, go help Zidane!" I called out to him.

The manikin stopped in its tracks while Squall moved right past it, nodding at me as he ran to Zidane's aid.

I glanced over the manikin's shoulder at Bartz. He nodded at me, and I ran at the crystalline creature. It tried to jump over me, but I grabbed it by the ankles and swung it in Bartz's direction. Summoning a copy of Squall's Gunblade, Bartz tried to cut the manikin in half. Apparently, the thing had some sort of intelligence, because it summoned a large hunk of ice just in time to deflect Bartz's attack. When the gunblade connected with the ice, it splintered, pieces shooting in every direction. Bartz was hit by the majority of the shards.

I cursed, rushing the manikin as soon as it landed on the ground. Bartz used Holy again, aiming all of the orbs at the manikin. It jumped out of the way of each one, but I was expecting that. I ran up behind it and punched it in the back as hard as I could. It went flying, and Bartz ran to catch up with it, slicing it in half with Zidane's Mage Mashers.

That's about it, I thought. Looking over at Bartz, I noticed him limping toward me and I ran over to him, potion in hand.

"You okay?" I asked, worry evident in my voice.

Bartz chuckled. "I'm fine. Those manikins can really pack a punch, though. Guess I should try to keep a cool head from now on."

I smiled softly as I poured the potion over his head. Needless to say, this guy was a complete jokester. Zidane wasn't any better.

"Bartz, are you okay? That manikin didn't seem to like you very much; it totally gave you the cold shoulder."

Zidane's voice rang with laughter as he made his way over with Squall.

"Har har," Bartz replied. "It probably liked me better than it liked you. I don't think it could handle your short temper."

Squall facepalmed while I just shook my head with amusement. These guys were too much.

The sky darkened above us. Looking up, I noticed a horde of clouds rolling in as the sun began to set.

"We should get out of this Gateway and set up camp," Squall suggested. "We probably wont be able to make much more progress today at this rate."

"Yeah," Zidane agreed, pausing his pun-filled argument with Bartz. "I'm beat anyway."

"Let's go," I said, turning and walking in the direction of the exit.

Bartz and Zidane ran ahead, while Squall trailed along somewhere behind me.

I got the feeling that this was going to turn out to be a long journey.

A/N: Hm. So what do you guys think? Is this better than the original? I can only hope so; I aim to please, after all. Personally, I think it's a lot more well-written than the other version. I like my pacing here, too.

Regardless, thanks for reading chapter one of my story! I hope to update soon.