Hello! Thanks so much for clicking! You've made my ego grow! And, um, found a new story to read… yay…. Heheh.

First off! This is a remake of my ol' first fic, Alright, Who Spiked My Drink? In case you didn't notice the word remake, you don't have to read the old one to understand this! This note is just for those amazing people who read AWSD and came here looking for the awesome :D Love you people! Mwah!

Second of all: There is a distinct LACK of mary-sues here! OMG, like, yayz! I've evened out my characters a lot since AWSD (P.S. Lark has a new name. I am having trouble mentally referring her as this new name, but I will manage), and I consider myself a pro now B) But maybe I'm a little arrogant. Anyway.

The feel of this story is a liiiiitle less humorous compared to AWSD, but AWSD was sort of cracky anyway…. This is a bit more serious. Don't worry, it's still funny :D It will just have some sober moments as well, especially in the beginning. Wouldn't you be a little serious if you suddenly were thrown into a video game with no known way back? :3

I have two chapters written including this one. I won't post the next one until I finish this one, unless a very long amount of time passes and I am desperate or something like that. Worst case scenario, you know? So yeah. Workin' on numero tres!

Pointless disclaimer is pointless. Me no owny. Bleh. This shan't be repeated in any other chapters, so if you want to find the disclaimer, look no further. Literally.

Words: 2,384

Right, so…. ONWARD!


Fool's Paradise

Chapter One: Envisioning

Imagination;

Its mysterious allure

Traps every man's soul.

Dear Mom and Dad,

Sometimes, you've got to wonder what life really is about. Why we're all here. What we're supposed to do. And whether we'll ever succeed in completing the goal of whatever this mysterious 'meaning of life' must be.

That sounded pretty deep, didn't it? Ha, I guess it did! But that was sort of the point, right? As my dumb old English teacher always told me: hook your reader. Starting off with something to catch your attention; and it did, didn't it? But hey, I'm getting off topic already. It's not like I'm here to talk about ol' Mrs. Felling. I never was good at staying on a topic anyway, but, right; that's not the point. The point is that I'm seriously reconsidering my life choices thus far.

Video gaming in any spare time I had that wasn't filled with friends or volleyball? Not the best choice I ever made. And not for the reasons people would expect. No, it sucks to admit it, but I regret playing video games, and not because they ruined my life. Well, I guess they kind of did, but not like that. I'm not some bum just kicked out of college and broke because I spent all my money on a PS Vita or something; instead, I get the pleasure of explaining to you guys: "Yeah, mom, dad, I know I should have listened to you. Now I'm stuck in a video game that I never should have played and my life is over and I feel like crap, so could you please stop looking at me like you're disappointed in me?"

So you must be wondering what the heck I'm going on about, right? Sure, that's understandable. I did kind of go missing and most likely totally freaked you guys out, y'know? Let's start over; that was the point of this diary – erm, journal, because I definitely don't have a diary, okay? – to explain how I got here, for my parents, you guys. Well, and my friends, and anyone, really. So they'll know what happened to me, even if I don't make it back to them myself. I don't know how this'll reach them… you… but I guess all I can hope for is that you guys get it. Right, Mom? Dad?

It feels weird talking like this will get to you. Like it's anything more than a journal to record my travels. But hey. There's still hope. I'll get through this. I'll get this to you, no matter what it takes.

This is my story.

(Great, now I feel like I'm ripping off Tidus.)

Signed in blood (Haha, just kidding, guys)

Your baby girl, Erin.


It all began, I think, the second time I tried to play Final Fantasy X. I'd never liked that game as much as I liked, say, Kingdom Hearts, but hey. It had been a while. I was bored. It was something to do, you know?

Wait. No, it didn't quite start there. Yeah, that was definitely part of it, but there was something else. I think I had just gotten past Baaj and met Rikku when the first thing happened. It hadn't seemed important at first, but as things have been accelerating lately, I'm starting to think more and more on this.

It all began the day after I restarted Final Fantasy X, a sunny Monday morning in southern California. I was at school, and my English class was in the library for research on an essay we were doing. Lyssa and I – yes, Mom; Lyssa, the one you don't approve of – were sitting at a table with some books, pretending to be reading when we were really just goofing off. I'm kind of embarrassed about what we were talking about.

"Alright, alright, alright. What about him?" Lyssa chortled, clutching her abdomen as she pointed carelessly in the direction of a pudgy, somewhat red-faced freshman in one corner of the library. We were both happily ignoring the disapproving eyes of the librarian and also failing at remaining incognito. I noticed Ms. Dunn – I can't remember if it was Miss or Missus or what, so I'll just use Ms. — our English teacher, starting to look in our direction, but only barely. My reply to Lyssa came quickly.

"Briefs, definitely." We both dissolved into laughter, which finally drew the teacher's attention. Ms. Dunn, scowling grouchily, strutted over to our table like a bird with its feathers ruffled. She kind of looked like one, with her hair.

"Keep talking amongst yourselves, girls, and I'll give you both a D for the Research portion of your paper," she warned, eyes cold and flinty; the kind of eyes that could kill. Both of us grew silent, with Lyssa trying to hide a roguish smile. When the elderly woman hobbled back to her table to grade more papers, I made a face at her back. Dumb old witch.

"Okay, okay. What about that guy; boxers or briefs?" my best friend questioned mischievously under her breath. I elbowed her in the side. We both opened our books, reluctantly, and took some notes until finally Ms. Dunn's eyes stopped darting over to our table to check on us. I took the initiative to start a new conversation.

"Oh, hey. I started FF10 again," I stated casually. Lyssa made a face.

"Again? C'mon, you know FF7 has gotta be so much better!" the brunette complained, again trying to convert me to her side.

"Dude, Seven has terrible graphics," I rebutted for the millionth time. "I am not playing a game where the main character is a stick figure with a chocobo's butt for hair."

"Fine, fine," the teenager relented. She and I both knew she wouldn't let up, though. Lyssa was a social gamer – she loved to talk with people about her games. I guess I was the same way, but hey, it's always fun to talk about your favorite things, right? "So how far along are you?"

"I'm almost at Besaid. Just gotta cook me up some squid."

"Wha—?" Lyssa asked, befuddled. When clarity was bestowed upon her through further thought, her face morphed into a smirk. "Oh, I see what you did there. You clever East-Coaster, you." I scowled at the nickname, quickly starting up a complaint.

"Oh, come on, just because I'm not technically a local—"

"Calm down, bro. It's not much of an insult for you, anyway. You love that place."

"Well yeah, I used to live there. East Coast for the win, dude."

Somehow after that, I think we got off the topic of Final Fantasy. Well, not that I was trying to talk about Final Fantasy in particular, but… you know what I mean. But sometime later, we ended up back on the topic again. This time, it stayed that way for a while. We were…. pretty loud about it, which is probably why our grade was so bad on that paper. As well as why everything turned out as it did – I don't think I'd be here now if this damn conversation hadn't been overheard.

"Okay, okay. Wakka and Lulu," I chuckled. We were, of course, talking about pairings between Final Fantasy characters. More specifically, pairing babies. Yeah. It came up somehow – I'm not really sure how, exactly. It was a pretty weird conversation, in total. We seemed to quiz each other on things like this often.

"Ew. Can you imagine those two together?" said Lyssa disbelievingly, an expression of distaste on her features. I paused, giving some thought to the two.

"Well, kinda."

"…Ew." I rolled my eyes, but ignored her dismissal, urging her to answer the question. "Yeah, yeah, alright," my friend complied with a wave of her hand. "It would definitely have Lulu's looks; can you imagine a baby that looks like Wakka?"

"Oh, that's mean." I didn't sound very offended; in fact, I was laughing a little.

"Well, it's true. Cowlick central, man."

"I still think it would have Wakka's hair color, at least. Right? Red hair is a dominant gene thing… or whatever… I think…." As you could see, this wasn't one of my brightest moments; I don't know much about genes, and I never have. I prefer to learn about other things… err, mostly sports. What can I say? I'm an athlete through and through.

Lyssa snorted, and most likely not due to my lack of knowledge in the science of DNA, as she was no more educated in that subject.

"Can you imagine a baby Lulu with orange hair?"

"Oh, geez! Lulu and orange do not mix, dude!"

We dissolved into laughter, and the conversation soon switched to another, equally-harmless topic. At the time, neither of us realized what crazy stuff we had inspired. We were just a couple of decidedly geeky teenagers, messing around when we were supposed to be working. Were we really that special? No. We were nothing more than specks on the Earth's surface. But it didn't take long for everything to begin to spiral out of our control…


I first noticed it a few days after the conversation with Lyssa. I hadn't played Final Fantasy X since then, having been too busy with homework and volleyball and chores and all that stuffto really sit down and play some games. But I realized, as I settled in my ultra-plush bean bag chair to play FFX one Saturday afternoon, that there was something different about my game.

The beginning scene seemed changed somehow. I couldn't put my finger on it. You know, that part where they're all sitting around the campfire in Zanarkand?

I'd already hit Start to skip it by the time I actually detected it – go me for thinking before acting, right? I'm kind of impulsive; it really helps in sports, you know. Unfortunately, it definitely didn't help me in this situation. By the time the screen faded and began to open to the Start menu, I'd dropped my controller and begun staring intensely at the TV, brows drawn together, certain that I had seen something different in that snatch of Zanarkand scene.

"What the…"

I realized that I had missed whatever it must have been, and frustration welled up inside me. But it didn't take long for me to decide that I must have just been seeing things; it wasn't like it could change, y'know? It was a preprogrammed disc…

So I thought.

Out of sight, out of mind – I quickly decided to let it go, and hit the 'Load' option. Within an hour or so, I had finished off that squid in the Submerged Ruins and reached Besaid uninterrupted. I hadn't noticed anything else out of the ordinary, except that some of the graphics seemed a bit twitchy – like every once in a while, out of the corner of my eye, I'd notice one of the huts flicker, or a random NPC mysteriously vanish.

I wasn't really sure those NPCs were even there – I never paid attention to them, anyway, and they all looked the freaking same – and the flickering I could just pass off as a scratch on the disc or something. It was a used copy, after all. I let it slide. I let it all slide.

I reached the part just before the hero heroically galloped into the Cloister to save the summoner when Mom called from downstairs, claiming that dinner was ready. A glance at the clock told me that an hour and a half had passed since I'd sat down to play the PS2; with a grin, I told myself I had made good progress. Deciding to give it up for the night, I saved, switched off the game, and headed downstairs.

I should have just left it there, never picked it up again. Left it to rot, for all I care now. It would have prevented this whole mess.

Or would it? If it wasn't me, would the fate just fall to some other unlucky soul?

Sorry. I'm getting ahead of myself again, aren't I?

I went through the usual nightly routine after dinner – check Facebook, brush my teeth, take a shower. Etcetera, etcetera. The next morning was Sunday, and sometime around noon I had the urge to play Final Fantasy X again. I wish I hadn't.

Gah, enough with my retrospective foreshadowing, or whatever it is. I'm starting to sound angsty. Not to mention dramatic.

I picked up the game where I had left off, but unfortunately forgot about the weird sensation I got when the opening played yesterday – so I skipped the opening again, and cursed once I'd loaded my game. But I didn't particularly feel like starting the whole PS2 over just to see the opening, so I continued onward.

I watched with amusement as the main character, Tidus, gallivanted into the Cloister of Trials to save the female lead, whom he had never met – Yuna. I breezed through the trials; not because I particularly remembered them, but because I had always been rather good with puzzles and the Besaid Trials were really easy, anyway. Then, as Tidus entered the area with the elevator and Wakka caught up with him, things began to get a bit… weird.

I swore I saw someone in the corner of the little room with the elevator; just a vague shape, but one that was definitely humanlike. Before I could tell what or who it was, the elevator had begun moving and Tidus and Wakka had engaged in conversation. But I knew I saw something there. I paused the game in my shock, wishing that I could rewind the game to see just what that had been. I mean, I didn't remember every detail of the game, but I at least remembered the important stuff. And a person creepily watching Tidus and Wakka as they entered the room before the fayth? That definitely would have been filed under 'important.' But I didn't recall it happening before.

Frowning, I realized this was the second time I noticed something distinctly off about my game. I gave the TV screen a bemused glance, and decided to play that part over again. Maybe I would check out the opening, too. My fingers connected with the button marked 'Reset' on my (sort of crappy, if you ask me) slim PS2.

The world spun.


So. Pretty different, eh AWSD fans? Don't worry, though Lark – erm, Erin… is a bit less genre-savvy, and far less obsessed, she's still about as loveable as before. Still pretty ADD, too… and now, obsessed with sports. She spoke to me, I swear. SHE MADE HERSELF!

But that's a good sign, right? …Right?

As for newcomers, how was it? Lookin-forward-to-the-next-chapter good? Will-totally-kill-to-read-more good? Flame-giving bad? Must-go-on-Sue-killing-rampage bad? (Alright, let's be honest. I just said all that because I like making specific examples and such. B) Eh, so sue me.)

A tad angsty with the narration, but this is Erin being all retrospective. It lessens as we go on and she gets more into the story, don't worry! And it's true, slim PS2s usually are crappy. I have one, I would know :( Buy me a good one, please, someone! D:

Aaaaand I talk too much. I would love reviews, even though I always said I would never sink to begging for them. But hey, if you don't ask, it makes you at least 7% less likely to get reviews! (And of course, 90% of statistics, such as that one, are made up on the spot. Eh.)