Important: Okay, so this was originally called Back in Time: A Vincent Nightray Story, but I felt the need to do some make-up work on it since it was my very first published fanfiction and it was it's one year anniversary (plus it was slightly terrible).

Later on you will meet a man named Jacque. I was thinking of making this a cross-over with Final Fantasy VII and Jacque was to be Reno. I decided against it since I only wanted Reno in this. I ended up just changing his name. Now you know how to properly picture Jacque.

Mikki Chase looked down at the busy street that below her fourth story balcony. All the cars were pointed towards their destination; their headlights lighting up the polluted Earth. She watched as the people walked down the sidewalk either getting home from work or going to a night shift. A thought occurred to her that nobody would miss her if she jumped; it's not like she had any friends or family left. Her brother Xerxes-the last family she had-had just died last week and her best friend Alice had left her behind so she could go off with Oz a month earlier. She was tired of being completely alone. She took in one big breath, closed her eyes, and stepped off the balcony.

Mikki felt the wind whip through her hair as she fell down to her death. Suddenly, the wind stopped and she could feel herself lying on something hard and dusty. When she opened her eyes, she noticed she was lying in the middle of a dirt road and a carriage was coming towards her at a high speed. Mikki quickly rolled out of the way, and the driver pulled back the reins of the two horses to yield them. When the carriage came to a stop he looked at her with irritation and confusion. She looked at the scenery around her before looking back at him. The city had disappeared and in its place were big fields and an occasional small cottage.

"Are you alright miss?" The driver ventured after some time of looking at the strange girl.

"Where am I?" Mikki inquired as she looked around with big eyes. The driver looked around with her.

"I think you're very lost, my dear." He responded after scanning the area and letting his eyes rest upon her again. She was not dressed appropriately; not even a peasant would dare dress in what she was wearing.

A window on the carriage door opened and a girl stuck her head out of it. "Why did you stop?" She asked the driver in a curious tone. The girl had long blonde hair tied up in a ponytail and had bangs hanging in her light burgundy eyes. "Oh! Who is this poor girl?" Her attention eventually came upon Mikki.

"I don't know my Mistress, she just appeared in the road and I about ran her over."

"My my, she looks absolutely filthy! Not to seem too conceited and rude, but what on earth are you wearing?" Her brows scrunched together as she studied Mikki.

Mikki looked down at her ripped grey t-shirt and worn-out jeans. Only the other girl's collar was visible from the window, but from just that Mikki could tell that her casual attire definitely looked out of place. She looked back up and saw that the girl had closed the window and opened the door, stepping out onto the street.

"I am Lady Sharon Rainsworth. Now may I ask, who are you?" She held out her hand to Mikki and helped her up out of the dirt.

"My name's Mikki. I'm afraid I've gotten lost, you don't supposes you could tell me where I am?"

Sharon gave her a smile, "Why, you're right in front of the Rainsworth's land!"

Mikki looked out into the distance and saw a mansion that was made out of stone. The smaller houses spread out in the field didn't look like any type of modern building. Finally, Mikki figured out her next question. "What year is it?"

Sharon gave her a questioning look before answering, "It's 1808 dear. You look a little confused, why don't you come home with me and we'll get you cleaned up and into an outfit that looks better." Sharon said with a trusting smile that Mikki couldn't argue with.

They arrived in front of the mansion that was apparently Sharon's home. Mikki was ushered inside quickly by Sharon and the driver, and taken to a large bedroom with a white marble fireplace with round chairs huddled around it. The driver left, and Sharon ushered her into an even larger closet full of different styled dresses that were organized by color and had matching shoes underneath each one. Mikki continued to stay slient as Sharon picked out a blue and white dress with clear heels tinted blue. Sharon brought her back out into the bedroom and had her sit down in a chair by a pure white vanity that had a mirror attached. Sharon did up her hair so it fell softly against her face, and put on just enough makeup to brighten her features. As she was doing this, Mikki silently explored the room in the reflection in the mirror; she also studied Sharon whenever she wasn't looking.

"You don't talk much," Sharon said when she put the finishing touches on Mikki and showed her inside a changing room.

"I'm sorry, I'm just a little confused right now." Mikki replied from the other side of the door as she tried to figure her way into the dress. "I came from the year 2011 and everything is so different here."

"2011! Are you a time traveler?" Sharon didn't sound as shocked or skeptical as Mikki thought she would.

"Mmh, not that I know of. The last thing I remember was jumping off of my balcony onto a street full of cars."

"Cars?"

"They're similar to your carriages, only without a horse."

"Oh, how strange yet fascinating they sound! May I ask you something? Why on earth would you jump off your balcony? Is that what people do for fun?"

"No," Mikki gave off a small chuckle, and then turned serious. "I guess I just felt there was no other way out." She walked out of the dressing room and stood in front of a mirror. Her red hair popped against the light blue dress, and the dress also brought out the silver specks that were in her blue eyes.

Sharon decided to leave well enough alone when she saw the look of depression on Mikki's face. Instead, an idea came to her. "Well, don't you look absolutely stunning? You'll be the envy of the ball," Sharon gripped Mikki's shoulders and gave a suspicious smiled at her through the mirror.

Mikki caught on right away. "What do you mean 'ball'?"

Sharon gave a light giggle of enthusiasm. "Welllllll," she let go of Mikki and fluffed up her hair, procrastinating because she was afraid of the answer Mikki was most likely going to give. "I was finally invited to the Nightray's party this year, but I couldn't get any of my friends to go with me-they don't really like the Nightray family much," she added the last bit under her breath. "So when we found you sitting in the road like that I thought it was a sign that I wasn't going alone!"

"I-I can't go to a ball; I'm still not sure if I've died and gone to hell!" Mikki declared.

"Oh now, a lady doesn't talk that way. Looks like I'm going to have to teach you a few manners before we go to the ball. We should be on our way now, it starts in a few hours and it'll take us at least three to get there."

"But-"

"Shush," Sharon cut her off, "we'll have enough time in the carriage to teach you the most important manners and turn you into a proper lady!" Sharon squealed as she drug Mikki by the wrist towards the front doors.

Mikki was stuffed back into the carriage along with Sharon, and the driver headed down the road that Mikki had landed on. If there was one thing that Sharon was, it was persistent. She drilled and drilled rules about manners and silverware into Mikki's head until Mikki felt like her brain wanted to throw up. Finally, when Sharon was convinced that Mikki wouldn't embarrass her, she shut her mouth after sighing and watched the foliage pass by. The silence left a ringing in Mikki's ears, so when she was finally able to think without manner floating around in her head she asked about the Nightray family.

"So why didn't your friends want to go to the Nightray ball?"

"There's a rumor about Vincent Nightray. People think he killed his father. Plus he has different colored eyes that are apparently a bad omen and they creep the living daylight out of people…and me. But I try not to judge on the color of his eyes, it would be rude if I did."

Mikki stared at her, "Why are we going to this party?"

"Because it's one of the biggest balls of the year! Also, his father's body has never been found so we're not really sure if he killed him, but people just don't want to accept him. His other two brothers are just fine. In fact, I know Gilbert personally. That's Vincent's older brother, Elliot is the younger one."

Mikki nodded but was still curious. "How does the rumor go?"

"Well, first things first, Vincent and Gilbert were adopted by the Nightray family when they were young so they've never been too attached to their father, but the Nightray mother was kind and gentle so they accepted her and loved her like a true mother. At least that's what Gilbert told me." Sharon tried to hide a smile when she thought of Gilbert.

She continued, "The rumor goes that their father killed their mother because she was making the children 'soft' by loving them. It was quite sad when that happened. I still remember reading the news article about it. Anyway, as they grew up without their mother Vincent was the one treated the worst; he was the one who was attached to their mother the most. Now this is where the rumor starts; a few days after Vincent's eighteenth birthday he snapped and finally killed his father. No one is sure what caused him to snap; most likely though, his father said something that pushed him too far or did something one too many times and Vincent had had enough. Some say he poisoned his breakfast, others say he strangled him. Either way the story ends that he buried his body outside in the garden full of black roses."

Mikki was exasperated. "That's twisted, why didn't his father ever get thrown in jail?"

"He had too much money. Same reason Vincent is still free." She said in a matter-of-fact way. Her eyes grew big at a thought that occurred to her. "I have to warn you about something that's very important. If Vincent does ask you to dance, don't look him in the eyes. I know I said I try not to judge him and all that, but there's one rumor I don't want to test; that he's the devil." As Sharon said this, the driver pulled up alongside a few other carriages.

"Looks like we're here!" Sharon's bubbliness came back just as the driver opened the door for the girls. Mikki looked around and saw a mansion that was twice the size of the Rainsworth's.

The sky was beginning to turn dark so butlers came out to light the lamps that lined the marble stairs up to big oak doors. They walked through the doors and entered a giant hall that led to a staircase for the massive ballroom. The girls went up to the second floor where the ballroom was located. They stood at the open doors and were introduced to the crowd that was already gathered; the announcer referred to Mikki as Miss Rainsworth's friend. Sharon hooked her arm with Mikki's and they walked into the ballroom together.

Mikki looked up and saw an oversized crystal chandelier hang from the middle of the ceiling. She scanned the rest of the room and saw hundreds of candles that were attached to the walls of the ballroom; they made the golden colored walls appear to glow. On one wall to the left of them were big windows that looked out over the infamous rose garden. In the middle of that wall was a glass doorway leading to a balcony. No one was out there so Mikki assumed the doors were locked, or people didn't want to be close to the roses. Round tables lined the one side of the room and Sharon drug Mikki to the table where they were to be seated. They said hello to the other guests sitting at there, and soon the main doors closed and music began playing.

"Looks like we got here just in time; they're about to introduce the Nightray family." Sharon leaned over and whispered to Mikki. The announcer walked to the left side of the doors and cleared his throat. The music stopped and he introduced Vincent Nightray.

Reviews (not flames) are much appreciated!