Hey everyone! This is my first fanfic EVER! I had some help with it; my sister Shannon and I both collaborated on the idea, and she even wrote the one for her favorite character, Cecil. Anyways, since I'm a newb, and this is my first one I REALLY want to know exactly what you think! Even if you don't like it! But if you're going to flame, do it nicely, like don't cuss me out or anything cuz I don't need to see that everytime I look at this. Thanks so much if you're reading this!

Chapter 1: Bartz

"The Chaos Shrine sure is a seedy place," Bartz decided, as he meandered through.

He wrung his hands in anticipation; he wished he could keep running, just blaze by this place, but he hadn't paced himself like he should have in his race with Zidane. His breath came in short gasps as he tried to catch it, and he slowly walked through, taking in the scenery (or lack thereof).

The purple sky was blotched with grey patches and glittering black specks. It loomed over him threateningly, dangerously low, as if it would reach down and snatch him up if he stood in the wrong place at the wrong time. It made him edgy, the entire place did. Any hide-out of Chaos' is a place to avoid, isn't that what Warrior said?

Bartz was breathing more deeply as he hopped a wide gap to the center of the realm, where the floor went unsupported. He took care to keep his eyes up, and avoided looking down the dizzying height to the floor below. He scanned the area, but the grey chair at the edge of the realm held his gaze.

"I wonder who sits there. I bet they're a jerk. Nobody who sits on a throne in a place like this is a good guy."

He shivered as an eerie wind swept across the world.

"These aren't like the winds I know. . . "

Back where he came from, as unclear as that place was, he remembered the winds to be free and serene, the guides of wayward travelers and ships. Here they felt . . . tormented. Like the desperate struggles of many were carried on them.

He summoned his good luck charm, a feather from a chocobo he had known, but whose name he couldn't remember. It soothed him; its touch always calmed him when he was uneasy. And it truly seemed to be lucky! He'd been in way too many close calls with manikins for it to be a coincidence anymore.

Bartz cast away the feather as another breeze whistled between the columns below him. Putting his finger in his mouth, he licked it and held it up to track its directed. At the same time it stopped.

"Hmm. Something weird's going on here. I better high-chocobo tail it outta here." He began to walk to the other side of the low wall that ran along the length of the shrine.

It certainly was scary, especially with nobody around.

"Hey, Zidane, wanna go look for a shop?"he asked to the open air.

"'Nah, man, I can't. I'm too busy chasing a goddess that I can't have, and a pink-haired beauty who'll never want me,'" he said, in perfect imitation of the Genome's gruff tones. He chuckled at his own wit of Zidane and continued his conversation. "What about you, Squall"

"' . . . '" He thought his Squall impression was the best.

"Alright, alright, fine. Cecil?"

"'Though I appreciate your offer, I must, regrettably, decline. However, should you need items, I am more than happy to part with a few of my potions.'"

"No, it's alright. Thanks. Kain?"

"'I shall accompany you to a Moogle, however, it is best you be prepared at all times. You never know when an enemy could appear-'"

A force like a freight train rocketed into his back and jerked him to the ground face first. He slid along the floor coughing and gasping as his breath returned to him from being knocked out of him. Kain dropped to the ground behind him and walked towards the stunned Bartz. His confused mind didn't process what happened. He sat up, dazed and disoriented and stared at Kain until his eyes focused.

"Kain! Boy, am I glad to see you! I just got attacked by something-" Kain swung the back of his lance like a bat and whacked Bartz in the chest. He fell back and rolled to a stop a few feet away, behind a section of broken wall.

"Wha? What just. . . I can't. . . Kain?" He tried to clear away the stars that blinked across his vision, followed by an intense blackness. He laid there dizzily as a voice reached his ears.

"Kain!"

It was Lightning's voice. It spoke, closer to him, "Bartz, stay with us!"

Slowly, his incoherent thoughts slipped away as his consciousness left him.

"K-Kain . . . you . . . Why did you . . .?"

So. . . there it is. Leave a review if you have time!