When I shut my eyes and drifted away on those strange grassy fields, the previous week seemed to replay in my head in a weird dreamlike way.

Oh wait, I forgot to introduce myself. The name's Joni. Joni Zeekens….yeah, yeah, I know, my last name is totally dumb, but I can't help it, darn it!

….Err, anyway, I'm sixteen years old, I live….well, lived in Sequim, a cozy little town in Washington, not too far away from Seattle, with my seven-year-old human hurricane of a brother, Danny, my dog Cassy, and a lady in her mid forties named Martha who serves as our nanny I guess. Last day I was there, it was April 31st. The year was 1977. Not much to say other than it snowed in Miami, the first all-in-one home computer was shown off, it was a lame year to be a pilot, Gandhi was doing some stuff, and Star Wars was coming out soon and everyone was craving to see it.

Appearance-wise, I'm just your typical teenager. Five-foot-two, slightly curly blonde hair, brown eyes, and if you look closely, I've got a few freckles on my cheeks. Though apparently I looked good enough to land the biggest sweetheart this side of the West Coast. His name's Ben, but I'll get to him soon enough.

Anyway, back to the day where I got the thing that started this whole mess!

April 26th, 1977. Tuesday. Five days before the incident occurred. Just like every other weekday, my alarm clock sounded off at 6:30 in the morning….yeah, you all feel my pain. And, as per usual, I pound down on that snooze button, only to have Danny come stampeding in my room, just waiting for the split second my alarm would go off and for me to get the thing to shut up, where he proceeds to climb on my bed and jump up and down on my poor half-asleep body, screaming "JONI! JONI! UPPETY UP! TIME FOR SCHOOL! TIME FOR SCHOOL!"

You wanna know what the lamest part is? He does this on weekends too, just substitute "school" with "Scooby Doo". It's times like this I wish I'd gotten a sweet little sister instead of this….human freight train hopped up on sugar.

I groan as I try to get up….which I couldn't really do considering the fact Danny was repeatedly making it impossible for me to move with his constant hopping on my back. "Alright, alright…." I grumble. "I'm getting up already, just….don't be a doofus and break my spine, you copy?"

"Yup! Copy copy!" he says as he finally stops using me as a trampoline and runs out of my room, down the staircase, and presumably to the kitchen.

Slowly, I crawl out of bed, trudge toward the bathroom, and do the whole "get ready for school" routine. Brush my hair and teeth, get into some casual clothes, put on some makeup, you know the drill. Afterwards, I scramble downstairs to get some breakfast before I go over to the old sawmill.

"Good morning, Joni." greets a slightly pudgy middle-aged woman with short ponytailed black hair sitting at the table with Danny (who's already scarfed down almost all of his Cocoa Puffs….like the kid needs to take in more sugar….), poking at some eggs on her plate.

"Morning, Mrs. Parker." I reply, taking a seat.

"Oh, Joni, how long have we known each other?" The woman says to me as she gets up and walks towards the kitchen area of the room. "Call me Martha."

I usually do call her by her first name, but whenever I'm feeling a little on the cranky side (which is pretty much every morning in my life in a nutshell), I try to suppress the urge to be surly (well, surlier than usual, anyway) by addressing my elders formally.

"Yes ma'am."

"Well, Joni," Martha begins to ask me. "What would you like for breakfast?"

I shrug. "I guess one of those toaster waffles."

"You sure you don't want some cereal or eggs or anything like that?"

"I'm sure." I say as I quickly glance at Danny. He's gazing at the box of Cocoa Puffs with serious temptation flickering in his eyes. You're hyper enough, kiddo. The last thing you need is seconds of that stuff.

"Okay, then." Martha says as she opens the refrigerator door to get the box containing the frozen waffles.

I fold my arms on the table and lay my head down in them. Why couldn't they just start school at a time where everyone was more or less awake? Even Cassy's still asleep at this time. Why do we have to get up around the time the sun is supposed to come up instead of, at the very least nine o'clock? It's far too early for me to be stressing out over "did I do good with my homework?" or "did I remember to fill out all five packets?".

You know what? Screw packets. Whatever happened to one sheet of paper full of questions? Why give us three or four freaking double-sided sheets of pure unnecessary work? That's just bogus.

My tired and bitter thought train is interrupted by the sound of a plate and a glass being placed down in front of me. Guess the waffle's done.

I lift my head off the table and slide my arms back. Martha then places down a fork, a knife, and a jar of grape jelly.

I pull my breakfast closer to me, spread some jelly on my waffle, take a few bites, sip some of the milk, glance at the clock, and then realize I have to book.

"Aaah! I gotta go! HaveanicedayguysBYE!" I shout as I pick up my bookbag and rush out the door.

I don't bother trying to make out what Martha says to me as I exit the house. It's probably "Have a nice day at school!" or something along those lines. All I know is I should just get on my bike and get to school ASAP.

And so, I ride my bicycle through the streets of Sequim in a race against the bell. Thankfully, my school isn't too far from my house, so the hurry isn't that big. I have just enough time to….well, son of a gun, there he is.

I slow down and get off my bike next to a boy my age. He's got blond hair like me, but it's more of a dirty blond sort of color, and he's got these lovely, gentle green eyes….

"Hey, Joni." he says to me in that sweet voice….forgive me if I sound swoony, here, he's my boyfriend, you dig?!

"Heya, Ben." I reply to him, smiling. "How's it going?"

"Doing good." Ben tells me. "How about yourself?"

"Ugh," I utter, my smile turning bittersweet. "Not doing to swell, you know? Crazy brother, getting up before the crack of dawn, overabundance of homework, it's pretty bunk sometimes."

"Yeah, they could stand to give us a little less homework." he said, wistfully grinning as well.

I sigh, then he sighs back….he's so romantic….

Ben is, as I stated before, a total sweetheart. A little on the shy, quiet, and passive side, but a sweetheart nonetheless. He's got the kindest smile, and an even kinder personality. I don't think I can remember a single moment where he said something mean. That's the reason I started dating him in the first place: he was such a good friend to me ever since the Eighth Grade, and I felt so alone in the sense that….well, now's not the time to pout over things that I can't change….

Then, some stupid jerks I knew from school drove by in their stupid fancy car and honked that stupid horn and let out a bunch of stupid mocking laughs directed at Ben and I. One of the jocks turned his head towards us and sneered. "So, it's the dumb geek and the prude again."

I clenched my hands into fists and glared at the goon furiously. "Dumb geek….I'll show you a dumb geek!" I threaten. Ben looked at me with concern and seemed ready to hold me back at a moment's notice before I (try and fail miserably to) tear the car and the dogs in it a new one….literally.

The jerkface just let out a single condescending "Ha!" before he drove off again.

"Yeah, you drive away, you son of a-! Ugh!" I scream at them, enraged, as I chase the car for a few paces, shaking my fist and then sighing with exasperation as I lowered my arm. I turned to Ben, his expression full of sympathy.

"I'm sorry, baby…." I said, my anger turning to remorse. "I just….you know how I get sometimes. I just can't seem to keep my cool."

"It's okay." he replied semi-quietly, looking me in the eye. "I don't blame you for being upset. I'm actually a little mad at them myself."

"You? Mad?"

"For making you get rid of that beautiful smile of yours." he told me with a slightly flirtatious glint in his eyes.

"Oh, stoooop." I retorted with a sheepish laugh. I could just feel my face turn hot pink.

My gosh, my mood sure changes on a dime. Sometimes, I wonder how such a foolhardy hothead such as myself manages to get good grades….not to brag or anything like that….

Fast forward about five or so hours later, and we're in Biology class. Our Science teacher's name is Mr. Adalwin. He's a redhead in his mid twenties with a short beard, and he's a pretty levelheaded and decent guy, though a bit blunt. Despite that, there's not much we know about him. Sure, the other teachers tell us about their previous jobs and their childhoods and stuff, but not Mr. Lowell Adalwin. Whenever we ask, he either finds a way to dodge the question or says something like "I had a very….interesting family." And just leaves it at that. There's always a bit of an air of mystery about him, and that could explain why most of the single girls in the class are always fawning over him.

Anyway, we're currently studying plants and stuff. All about the different kinds of roots and leaves and how they photosynthesize and how some plants don't even need sunlight. I guess it's interesting, though I personally think History class is where it's at. It's the only real class in school that's worth all the homework and social junk if you ask me. I just find it extremely fascinating for some reason. Ironically enough since I keep trying not to live in the past.

Oh wait, it seems like class is wrapping up. Mr. Adalwin is writing our latest assignment on the board.

"Today….I want you to fill out pages….97 through 100 in your workbooks…."

Doesn't sound too bad this time.

"….and write an essay discussing a moss of your choice."

I just had to get my hopes up, didn't I!?

Aaaand, cue the bell for lunch break.

"RRRRRRIIIIIIIINGGGGGG!"

"Class is dismissed," Mr. Adalwin told us in that same serious voice. "I look forward to seeing you tomorrow, have a good time on your break."

"Bye, Mr. Adalwin." one of the girls in class said to him with a flirty tone.

"Err….farewell, Kate." he replied to her awkwardly but politely.

But as I was going to push in the chair to my desk and leave with Ben on my break, something fairly unexpected happened that began this peculiar turn of events.

"-and Joni," Mr. Adalwin called. "Before you leave for your lunch break, I want to speak with you for a second."

I shrugged, turning to Ben for a second and patting him on the shoulder. "Be right there, baby. You go on without me." I told him. Ben lightly smiled. "Okay then, see ya." He said before walking off to the cafeteria building.

Mr. Adalwin got back into his chair before speaking to me again. "Have a seat, Miss Zeekens." Not much else to say other than I pulled up a chair in front of his desk and sat down.

Mr. Adalwin twiddled his thumbs for a second before opening a drawer in his office desk and rummaged through it for a while until he found a seriously rusty bracelet. He held it for a minute and looked back at me.

"See this?" he said.

"Uh, yeah?"

"This," he said as he placed the relic on his desk. "Belonged to my distant ancestors, and has been passed down through my family, along with other artifacts belonging to them, for approximately six-hundred-and-eighty years."

"Are you for real!?"

"Err...yes." Mr. Adalwin replied. "And an heirloom this old would obviously have quite the history behind it."

"I dig it." I replied with great interest. What can I say? I think archaeology and history and stuff like that can be pretty fab. ...PFFFFT, I said 'I dig it' referring to an archaeological bracelet. Unintentional pun, much? 'Cause, you know, you dig to...find stuff like...oh forget it, I am an unfunny human being and I should be ashamed of myself.

"My...ancestors," Mr. Adalwin continued, clasping his hands together and resting them on his workstation. "...were said to be people of bizarre capabilities. Other family relics seem to depict them going though portals...'gates', if you will, to other worlds and other time periods. And the engraved messages on one relic speaks of how the possessions of these people could allow a person outside of the bloodline to...pass through these 'gates' since they were fashioned by people who wanted to at least keep their most prized belongings if they were forced to move into another time or dimension, and therefore their things took on similar properties. Given it was the right person needed for that time and-or place, one could actually travel back in time. Apparently, normal people who would use this ability selfishly would be unable to access the power of these artifacts and would basically be holding on to a piece of antique junk."

"Hey now, Mr. Adalwin," I interrupted. "You don't seriously believe in all that bogus time-travel dimension-jumping hocus-pocus, do you? I mean, come on. Everyone knows time travel is impossible."

He just sighed and shoved the bracelet toward me. "There are many things in this world, Miss Zeekens, that are unexplained and unknown to man." he said. "I do not know if these stories are true, but I believe you should have this. Besides, Mrs. Pierson mentioned you have a penchant for history and archaeology and the like, so I'm sure you'll appreciate me giving this to you, regardless."

I gently picked up the ancient bangle off of the desk and observed it carefully. Normally, people say I'm reckless, but with this sort of stuff, I can't afford to be a klutz. It was copper (as indicated by the aqua-green tinge beneath the rust), and in terms of design, it was rather plain: no runes, text, or markings, just some scratches here and there. It was a little hard to tell where it came from given it's simplistic design and lack of distinguishing patterns, but it seemed like a mix of ancient Roman and Medieval Scandinavian, and, as stated by Mr. Adalwin previously, it was pretty safe to say that this came from the late 1200 era. It didn't look like anything special, but seeing as it was old and kind of pretty, it was a gift I gladly took.

Heedfully putting the ancient accessory on my wrist, I nodded at my teacher as a way of saying thanks.

"Be very, very careful with that, Joni." Mr. Adalwin told me in a tone so serious that anything he said before and after that would sound like a joke. "You are dismissed."

I got up, put the chair back, picked up my lunch bag, and headed for the door. "Later, Teach!"

The weekend came like any other day. Danny woke me up to watch Scooby Doo with him, nearly breaking my back in the process, and afterwards, I called Ben, and we were thinking on going on a walk through town together, but as it turns out, it was raining. You'd think we get a lot of rain here in Sequim considering we're right next to Seattle, but no, it's actually pretty rare despite how overcast it usually is. Normally, I like the rain, helps me clear my head, but when it so happens to be on the Saturday afternoon where you wanted to take a saunter with your boyfriend...not cool, Mother Nature. Not cool.

So...yeah. It had been five days since I got that bracelet from Mr. Adalwin, I never took it off except before hitting the hay, and not a single flippin' thing has happened. Guess that whole "gate jumping" thing was completely bogus after all...

Except you probably noticed that the story continues beyond this point.

Like I said before, I like walking around in the rain since it helps me get my thoughts straightened out, so...yeah, I went out for a little stroll by the shore of the sound, umbrella in hand. Even on weekends, not many people like to visit there in the rain, so the calming sound of the waves and the rain, the weather, and the lack of other people around made for an ideal spot for meditating and relaxing.

However, while out on said walk, the soothing and ambient sound of the drizzle meeting the surf was shattered by a caterwaul of barking noises as Cassy came racing after me. She was always a very nervous and protective dog, especially around me and my little brother, so of course she would follow me from my house all the way to the sound. The big old German shepherd clung to my side, whimpering. Seeing as I didn't want to smell like wet dog by the time I got home, I picked up a stick and threw it fairly far ahead of me, knowing she'd retrieve it and probably relax a little. "C'mon, Cassy! Fetch, girl!"

Cassy ran right after it as I expected, barking like a loony. That pooch likes to play fetch waaaaay too much.

But before she came back with the stick, something happened...

I honestly should've looked where I was walking, but nooooo, I had to walk right into it.

Right into that tidepool.

I should've noticed the faint glow radiating from the most seemingly ordinary puddle, I should've noticed that, instead of reflecting the silver, melancholic sky, I could see a river and some bright green moorlands from a bird's eye view within the pool, I SHOULD'VE NOTICED THAT IT WAS EVEN THERE JUST IN CASE THERE WAS, I DUNNO, A JELLYFISH OR SEA ANEMONE THERE THAT COULD'VE FRIGGIN' STUNG ME, but nope, I put one foot forward, and right before I took that step that would completely change my life, I heard Cassy barking frantically and saw her running my way, as if she knew what was about to happen to me (wouldn't shock me one bit, dogs are perceptive that way), and finally...I felt myself stumble and fall...much farther than I should have.

Next thing I knew, my umbrella went flying out of my hand, and I was falling through a clear sky, looking down at the valley hundreds or even thousands of feet below. Sometimes I'd notice some birds flying around me, usually some crows, but I think I spotted some messenger birds as well.

But what was going through my head the whole time? The same thing that was coming out of my mouth:

"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!"

...Hey, what did you expect me to think and say when I'm pretty much falling to my doom? "What a wonderful day! Boy, is plummeting to my demise exhilarating! I wish I could do this more often!"? ...Well, maybe if I was a skydiver I'd think that, but I'm not.

Gee...looks like I've fallen pretty far, now. About five-hundred more feet until I go splat.

...Make that 350 feet, now that I think about it...

...Much to my surprise, I think I might survive this fall. If I lean a liiiiitle more forward, I could probably land in that river...yeah, I'm almost right above the water! I think it's working! I'M GONNA LIVE!

Aaaaand SMACK! SPLOOSH!

That actually hurt a lot. I mean, I've had some nasty belly-flops before, but you haven't felt pain until you have one of those after falling thousands of feet from the air. It's like having a giant frying pan hit the entire front-side of your body. Yeah, ouch. I actually blacked out for a second it hurt so bad (well, either that or it was the shock of suddenly falling out of the sky). And so, I sunk for a spell.

And then, as if a part of my subconscious was reminding me that I would most surely drown if I didn't make an effort to get to the levee, I snapped out of it, trying to reach the surface before I was fish food. I desperately gasped for air as soon as I escaped the murky stream's embrace, flailing my arms as I attempted to stay afloat. I tried as hard as I could to swim to shore, tired as I was. The current threw me off several times, and I almost drowned at least four times. For the longest time, it seemed like my scramble to reach solid ground was an endless cycle of going under the water and once again breaching the river's surface for air. After several minutes of struggle against the stubborn flow, I didn't feel any water around me anymore...but something cool and somewhat sticky instead...mud! I had finally reached the riverbank!

Oh, land...sweet land! No more falling and drowning for me, thanks.

Slowly, I got up and, with every last ounce of my remaining strength, trudged through the muddy slope, over the roots of some of the riverside trees, and onto the nearby green fields, only to collapse right on the meadow. I felt the dewdrops on the grass rub off on my face and the wind caress my hair as I lay face-first on the ground, drifting off yet again.

Before my consciousness slipped away, I could hear a lady screaming in the distance. I couldn't make out exactly what it is that she said, but judging from the volume and frantic tone in her voice, she probably saw me pass out and was now losing her head over it. I guess I would too if I saw someone keel over.

And that's all I could remember before I woke up once again...

A/N: And so it BEGIIIIIINSSSSSS! I've been meaning to start this fic for a long time, and oh boy do I think this is going to be a fun one.
This first part was simply meant to build up to the incident that got Joni stuck in the world of FE7 as well as to establish her character, so, I'm sorry if it's a little on the dull side, but don't worry, if all goes well, the next part will be anything but boring (well, at the very least we'll have some fighting, so stuff will happen).I also want to make it very clear that Joni is not a self insert. Actually, our demeanors are entirely different...which is why I think I'm going to have a lot of fun writing her character.

Hopefully, I got all the late 70's slang right. I'm hoping to have some help from my mom with this aspect of Joni's character.

Well, hope you guys enjoyed! :D