Disclaimer: I don't own Chrono Cross. Wish I do though.

Author's Notes: Hey, guys. This is butcherthegirl here (odd name, I know) going on an attempt to write a Chrono Cross SI fanfic. It had always been a dream for me to hurl myself into the world of video games. This game was one of my favorites other than Final Fantasy IX. I simply just loved it.

I'm just posting the first chapter for view. Not sure whether will I continue this soon. I just wanted to know how you guys felt about this opening. The plot is still incomplete yet, and so is the whole background of the Chrono Cross world. I already have several concepts on explaining the Element system in words… Still, any help will be greatly appreciated.

I hope you enjoy this chapter. Be sure to drop a review and let me know about how you felt! Sorry if there are any errors. English is not my first language, see.

In the mean time, please check my other work: Afterlife Tales as well! Thanks a bunch!

Chapter One: The Corridor of Dreams

It was raining gently outside. The air was cool, just the way I liked it, serving a relaxing atmosphere as I finished a game called 'Chrono Cross' via an emulator in my computer and watched the credits rolled. I always liked it whenever it rained during emotional moments. Watching a good game's ending while listening to its awesome music was definitely one of these moments.

I laid back on my chair as I closed my eyes and listened to the melody of the game. The thing about Chrono Cross was its ending music always had this enigmatic feeling, like it made you wanting to stop time and recollect sweet memories, or disappearing into nothingness. I couldn't describe the sensation in words. It was just awesome.

This was not the first time I finished the game. I had played it for countless times as far as I could remember. It's like I was addicted to it. But thankfully, so far it hadn't affected my grades. I couldn't imagine the expression on my parents' faces if that happened.

I sighed as I closed the emulator and switched off my computer. I then threw myself on my bed, hugging a pillow and trying my best to sleep. I was always looking forward to my dreams. They were mostly me living adventures in worlds of my favorite video games, especially Chrono Cross. But the disappointing part was I never get to really complete the journey. I was always stuck at somewhere at the beginning or some place I didn't recognized. My friends thought I had too much dosages of Chrono Cross.

"Hey Grayson, spent another night in El Nido Archipelago again?"

Yeah. That had always been a common question my friends used to make fun of me. Screw them. It's not like everyone had a chance to dream about their favorite video games, right?

A powerful desire stirred inside me. I wanted to have a real adventure, a real, complete adventure from the beginning until the very end of the story and not just bits and pieces of it. I once slept too much and ended up having insomnia as a result of trying to get in my dream world.

But things had been strange recently. Unlike the usual dreams where I was in a video game world, I began to have a new dream for the past six days. Yeah, the same dream over and over again. It had been recurring for six days straight and I had not idea what was going on. I just hoped for it to leave me alone so I could get back in dreaming about my fantasies.

It was a dream where I was in a dark, endless corridor. The corridor was illuminated by dim light from torches at the walls. The floor was made of polished marble. On both sides of the corridor were innumerable doors of different sizes and different designs. I was always in the middle of the corridor, unsure whether should I take the front or rear path. At first it was freaking me out, but later it turned out to be pretty boring with me walking endlessly down the corridor. No, I hadn't opened one of the doors. I just didn't feel like it. Usually I would just wake up after I got tired of walking past doors after doors. And that just sucked.

A knock on my bedroom door pulled me out of my thoughts. I sat up as Mom's voice called out to me.

"Seth! Your grandfather's here!" she informed enthusiastically before leaving down the stairs.

Ah, yes, Grandpa. I almost forgot that he was visiting us today. I was always fond of him, and he felt the same towards me. Grandpa had been telling me fantasy tales of his ever since I was three, or some legends which he claimed to have been passed down in our family from our forefathers. I wondered what story he brought with him this time.

I quickly grabbed a white sweater with a hood and wore it before heading downstairs to the living room. There he was, sitting by the couch and greeting me with a warm smile. Bald, grey hair; face full of wrinkles; that's Grandpa alright.

"Hey, Seth, my boy!" he greeted warmly. "How've you been lately?"

"Same as always," I said with a chuckle as I sat down to the couch beside him.

"Still having dreams of you wandering in your video game worlds?" Grandpa guessed.

"Well, not anymore since recently," I replied disappointingly.

"Wow!" he looked at me in surprise. "Never thought I hear that coming from you! I always thought you wouldn't grow up." He ended up laughing.

"Grandpa, I'm seventeen!" I protested. "I am grown up!"

"I know, I know," he chuckled.

I spent the rest of the afternoon telling Grandpa about recent issues in my school. He had always been a good listener: quiet and understanding. Whenever I had problems, he always managed to help me solve them with his experiences in life. Well, all except for my love life. I wanted to keep that private.

"Amanda's not still forcing you to play basketball, is she?" Grandpa asked.

"She is," I answered. Mom always tended to have me go play basketball with my friends all the time. She was trying to get me through rehab from video games, I guessed. Thankfully, it was now raining season and I had couldn't be happier to stay indoors and sat in front of my comp. My friends told me I was good at basketball and had recommended me to transfer to the Basketball Club instead of staying in dull, boring Literature Club. But I didn't, of course. They would have force me on the team and there will be lesser time for me to spend playing video games with.

"She's just concerned," Grandpa said. "Although you seem to be doing pretty fine in your studies. I'm impressed."

"Thanks."

"So, anything interesting happened recently?" he continued to ask.

"Well…" my mind fell on the recurring dream I had been having for the past six days. "There's one, but it's not that all interesting. It's a bit more…weird than interesting, you can say."

"Fill me in," Grandpa said with a curious smile.

"There's this dream I've been having for the past six days. It's not like the previous ones where I dream about video game worlds…" I began to elaborate.

I spent the next five minutes telling Grandpa about the strange dream with that endless corridors and weird doors. I expected him to laugh at it, but he didn't. Instead, he continued to listen as if amused.

"So, you've been dreaming about the same thing? For six days straight? You sure?" he asked.

"I'm certain of it," I said confidently. I'd been counting, really.

"You know, that reminds me of an old legend passed down in our family tree," Grandpa said, his hand on his chin. "Do you want to know?"

"Definitely," I said almost immediately.

Grandpa cleared his throat. It was a trend of his whenever he was telling a story, or legend, whatever. I listened intently as he began to tell his so called legend.

"Long ago during the time of our ancestors, it is said that a kind of power existed in them. It was rare, not all of them have that power. They think the power could only be awaken in chosen members of the family. Some theorized that it might have been a special trait in their blood. But no one knows for sure," he said.

"So, what is this…power?" I asked, my heart surging with more curiosity than I could have imagined.

"The power, or ability to enter into dream worlds," Grandpa explained. "It is said that one could just walk into his own dream with full consciousness. It was an amazing thing to do. They said you can even stay there, live there. There, you bring your full mind and senses with you. You can feel pain, heat, cold, or emotions like hatred and love. It was like living in another reality. But it is also said that one cannot alter his or her dream world. Dream worlds differ in many ways and never share the same shape. Still, it was an extraordinary power to have. They call the people with this ability 'Dreamwalkers'. Instead of walking outside your dream, you walk inside the dream. Of course, this was just an old legend."

"Whoa," I said in an amazed tone. "So, these people could just literally walk in and out of their dream world? Like, whenever they feel like it?"

"That, I don't know. The legend never explained how the Dreamwalkers' ability works," Grandpa placed a hand on my shoulder and chuckled. "Don't get you hopes too high, kiddo!" He laughed.

"I'll take my chances," I joked. It sounded ridiculous enough. I mean, walking into your own dream, just how odd is that? It was a dumb legend, but one that actually caught my interest. For a moment, I wanted to try it. Too bad the legend didn't contain the system on how the dream world entering works. If not, I would be in Chrono Cross right now, stepping my feet on Opassa Beach's shores and hitting Serge's face with a fish. Not sure why I wanted to do that though.

"Would you look at the time!" Grandpa suddenly exclaimed as he examined his wristwatch. "Your Granny would be real upset if I don't make it home for dinner. In case you forgot, today's our seventieth wedding anniversary." He finished with a chuckle.

Oh, right, it was that day again.

"Better hurry, then," I reminded him with a smile. I wouldn't want to hear Granny yelling through the phone asking where the hell is Grandpa.

"Leaving already, Dad?" Mom asked as she entered into the living room.

"Yeah, gotta get back to your mother and have our wedding anniversary dinner," he said as he sat up and left for the door, grabbing his umbrella and opened it up. Mom opened the door for him and he took a few steps down the paves before turning around and said, "Goodbye Amanda! And you too, Seth! Take care of your mother now."

"Will do," I replied, grinning. The house didn't usually have this much noise, considering it was only me and Mom most of the time. Dad passed away in a car crash back when I was little. Mom had been working harder since to pay my school fees. And I had been getting excellent grades in my academics in return for her efforts. Mom was very proud of it, but she wasn't very fond of my gaming habit though. Still, I loved her very much. She was a great mother.

Night came and we had our dinner. It was still raining outside. It would be pretty comfortable later when I sleep. All the better when I had my wonderful dreams. I hoped it wouldn't be that damn corridor again.

I still hadn't open one of the doors, had I? I thought as I lay on my bed, hugging a pillow in my arms. You sure you want to let this dream go, Seth Grayson?

Well, maybe one last time, I decided. It would suck if I never find out what's behind the doors. Even if it was only one of them, that would be enough. Then I can continue wandering my mind off Chrono Cross or any other games…

It sure felt like a long while before I fell asleep. All of a sudden, I was back in the middle of an endless corridor, basked in the dim light of the torches' flames. I began to walk pointlessly down the passage while examining the doors. Certain enough, the doors never seemed to recur. Each of them was individually special. Some of them had weird shapes. Some of them had weird colors, like puke green or dung-like brown. Some of them even smelled like rotten eggs.

After what seemed like hours, I finally settled down on one door. It stood out among all the others. The door was half white and half black, kinda like Yin and Yang, I guessed. What interested me more was the face painted on it. The face was white and had a radiant smile on the black side of the door while on the white side, it was black and its lips were curved downwards. The white side of the face looked as if it was alive and had flesh, like a real human face and was filled with positive emotions. On the other hand, the black side looked dead and decayed, like a half skull and filled with negative emotions.

I felt pretty ominous staring at this door.

Let's just push it open and get this over with.

The door had no doorknobs or handles, so I had to place both of my hands on the door, one at each side and pushed the thing ajar. I then walked through the door curiously, only to find a room filled with darkness.

"Great, just what I need, a room full of nothing," I grumbled as I ran a hand through my hair. "I should have chosen a different door…"

I was beginning to feel disappointed and bored when suddenly the floor underneath me just disappeared. I yelled from the sudden drop. I was falling into what seemed like a bottomless depth. But I could feel a cool breeze brushing against my face. It almost smelled like…the sea.

It was not long before I sank into what felt like sea water. The water was stone cold, like when you take a bath at four in the morning. I hated that kind of cold. I struggled to swim up to the surface. My face broke the surface of the water, grasping for air. But it was only a split second before I sank back down into the sea.

I just realized I couldn't swim.

Crap, should've taken the swimming lessons… I thought as panic took over me. My lungs felt like they were burning and my head hurt greatly. Water began to leak into my nostrils and mouth as I struggled to float on the water. I knew struggling would only make things worse, but I was too panicked at the moment. Everything was pitch black. It was horrible.

Was it just me? Or was this dream a little…real?

What I meant was, more real than usual. I could feel the pain of drowning, the dizziness in my head…

"There, you bring your full mind and senses with you." Grandpa's voice passed through my mind.

It couldn't be. It was impossible, but it seemed like the only explanation for the realness behind this dream.

I was a Dreamwalker.

If that had been true, then I was dead for sure. Why did this happen to me? Why had the Dreamwalker ability awaken now during this dream? Why couldn't it happen while I was dreaming something else? Screw this whole Dreamwalker legend. I just wished I wasn't born in this family, and then I wouldn't have somehow inherited this legendary power.

My life began to flash before my eyes. Everything: school, friends, the girl I had a crush on, my dead father, Mom, Grandpa, Granny… I wondered how Mom will feel, finding her son dead in the middle of his sleep for no apparent reason. I wondered what's it like dying when your whole mind and senses and, possibly, soul was in the dream state. Probably the me back in reality would end up in a comatose state and never wake up, or stop breathing, or vanished without a trace. I just couldn't guess.

My consciousness was fading fast when all of a sudden an arm pulled me by the collar, choking me for a moment. Someone was trying to save me, I thought. If he was, I might get choked to death before he could even pull me up shore. Thankfully, he seemed to have realized that and wrapped his arm around my chest instead.

Seconds later, my face broke the sea's surface. I breathed greedily for air. I never thought there comes a time when I will feel the preciousness of oxygen. It was enough for me to stay alive, but not enough for me to keep myself from passing out.

As I was pulled ashore, I heard a voice calling out to me, but the state I was in made it sounded like it was buzzing. My head felt really dizzy at the moment. My vision blurred. And I fainted.