Chapter 2

I moaned. My whole body was aching and my head was pounding. I tilted it back too quickly, whacking it against a wall I was leaning on. I took an intake of breath through clenched teeth and did my best not to scream. Once I had recovered, I tried to recollect what had happened before I'd fallen asleep. I decided that Mom must have turned off all the lights without waking me up and telling me to go to bed. That was one of the things she did on a regular basis.

I opened my eyes and put one hand on the floor. I started. The floor was cold and hard. This wasn't my living room. Where was I?

Just then, thunder rumbled close by, making me jump. I felt suddenly terrified without even knowing why. Perhaps it was because I didn't know where I was. Thinking I would find some sort of light if I moved around, I stood and walked forward with my arms stretched in front of me in case I hit anything. It was unfortunate for me to find out after a couple of steps that there was nothing for me to hit from the waist up. I tripped over a random step and just caught myself on a thick piece of wood near my thighs. The plank seemed to be part of a kind of box, so I felt around the edges and skirted it.

I stopped walking for a while and looked around for any sign of a window or anything that would let in light. I saw a thin strip of light coming from underneath a door. Smiling, I went toward that door in hopes that I'd be able to get out that way. Not that the door would have been unlocked, but I never got there in the first place.

I forgot to be careful about where I was stepping, tripped over my own feet, and the only thing that stopped me from face-planting into the floor was another plank of wood that hit me right in the stomach. I put one of my arms over the plank to reach for the ground for support, but I hit something cold and hard. It glowed white in the feeble light from under the door, but I couldn't see it clearly, so I picked it up.

It's a good thing I was winded, because I would have screamed bloody murder once I realized I was holding a bone in my hand. I dropped it and fell backward, throwing out both hands to catch myself before I hit the floor. After I made impact, I scooted into a corner and curled up into a ball. I now knew what those boxes were, but I didn't want to think about it. I was terrified as I whispered one word.

"Daddy."

At that point, I passed out.

When I came to, I heard murmuring voices and periodic thunder. They seemed so far away, but I felt too weak to reach out for them. I couldn't even open my eyes, it seemed. Maybe Dad was out there, telling me to come with him. I tried to say something, but my mouth wouldn't move.

Someone touched me on the shoulder, and my eyes flew open. There was a woman standing in front of me that had no sense of modesty. A white belly shirt and a mini skirt were the only things covering her body besides her boots and gloves. Her hair was long, dark brown, and tied into some sort of a ponytail near her waist. She asked me if I was all right, and something clicked in my head. I knew this girl.

"Tifa Lockheart?" I managed to say before I could stop myself.

The girl stared at me for a moment before she spoke. "How do you know my name?" she asked.

Without answering her question, I looked past her toward the three other people in the room. There was another man and a woman standing beside Tifa in front of me, and a man dressed in red was sitting in a coffin in the middle of the room. Pointing at each in turn, I said their names.

"Hold on. If you're Aeris Gainsborough, and you're Cloud Strife, and you're Vincent Valentine…I must be dreaming." I shook my head in disbelief.

Tifa looked at her companions. Everyone but Vincent had shocked looks on their faces, including myself.

"I'm still asleep, aren't I? I have to be. You guys aren't real. Tell me I'm still asleep," I said.

Tifa shook her head. "You're not asleep. We're as real as you are. Who are you, anyway?"

"I AM asleep, and I can prove it." I pinched myself as hard as I could. "Ow! Why didn't that work?" I closed my eyes, rubbed them, and opened them again. Each of the video game characters was as solid as before. Why wasn't I waking up?

Aeris stepped forward, muttering something. When she was finished, I felt my mind start to settle. Tifa tried questioning me again.

"Who are you?" she asked.

"I'm Rosalie. Rosalie Webber," I replied, letting Tifa help me to my feet. I felt so calm, I almost didn't notice the thunder coming from outside.

Vincent spoke up. "How did you get here?" he asked. "No one has been in here since I fell asleep."

"I don't know how I got here…." I was speaking to myself for the most part. I had no idea it was even possible to get sucked into a video game. But now that my mind had been cleared by Aeris' spell, it all made some sort of sense.

Cloud inspected the opened door behind him. "It was locked. We had to find a key to get in. Maybe someone threw her in here…?" He looked at me for an answer.

I shrugged and shook my head. "I have no idea what happened."

Cloud, Tifa, and Aeris put their heads together. I felt a little uncomfortable. I looked at Vincent and tried to smile at him, but I only got a blank stare in return. I cleared my throat and stared at my shoes after that.

When the team raised their heads, Cloud turned to Vincent and I.

"Do either of you have weapons?" he asked.

Vincent patted a gun at his hip with his right hand. I noticed, then, that he had his left arm hidden beneath his red cloak. I couldn't quite remember the reason he did that, but I knew he had one.

I shook my head in response to Cloud's question. I didn't even know HOW to fight. And, besides that, my mind had started spinning again. If I'd known how to fight, I wouldn't have been able to. Aeris' spell had worn off.

Cloud looked back at Aeris and Tifa. I could only stand there, shuffling my feet and struggling to keep my face blank. Cloud turned to us again. "Tifa will take you to the nearest inn, Rosalie. That leaves us one member short. Vincent, will you join us?"

Vincent thought for a moment, then stood, jumped out of his coffin and said, "Of course."

"Then we'll see Tifa and Rosalie to the door."

The five of us walked out of the room with Tifa and I in the back. Cloud brushed past me and started up the stairs, being the born leader. In spite of myself, I started pinching my arm again. Tifa gave me a harsh look.

"Stop that," she said.

"Sorry," I said, staring at the ground.

When we got up the stairs, there was someone waiting for us.

"Sephiroth!" Cloud drew his massive sword.

As everyone prepared for battle, I could only stare at the villain. In fact, when everyone rushed toward him, I took a step backward. Being the klutz that I was, I tripped over myself and landed on the ground. I felt like an idiot, but I was a safe idiot at the moment.

I could only watch the battle from my position on the floor, hoping that no one besides Sephiroth was going to die. Tifa helped me up, but I leaned against the nearest wall, making sure I wasn't going to fall down again. As I turned my thoughts back to the battle, I saw Sephiroth smirk and slide his massamune into Cloud's stomach. That wasn't supposed to be in the game. What was going on here? I stared at Cloud as the sword was removed and he fell to the floor.

"Cloud!" Tifa said, her voice a bloodcurdling scream.

Something inside of me snapped. All I remember is wanting Cloud to live, and I felt tired without explanation. A teal light surrounded Cloud, closing his wound. Soon after, he was back in the battle. I sighed with relief, but my exhaustion claimed my attention as my legs almost collapsed. I placed my hand on the wall to brace myself. I stared at my feet to make sure they were going to hold me, and I saw a pair of black boots in front of me. I looked up and met the eyes of Sephiroth. Before I could react, he grabbed my arm and pulled me toward him. I screamed, but I couldn't do any more than that. I didn't know where my energy had gone, but I had no power to fight against his grip without it.

When almost all my strength had left me and I was about to fall unconscious, I heard gunshots. After that, I was out.

I opened my eyes. "Aeris?" She was kneeling beside me.

"Are you all right…Rosalie, isn't it?" Aeris said, hoping she got my name right.

I nodded to both questions. "I'm fine." I looked around, not really seeing anything I set my eyes on. "What happened?"

"Sephiroth tried to take you before you passed out. You'd probably be waking up to see his face instead of mine if Vincent hadn't acted so fast." Aeris grabbed my hand and helped me sit up.

"Vincent saved me?" I blinked and looked around again. This time, I was searching for Vincent.

"He's outside. You should go thank him," Aeris said.

I nodded and stood. I walked out the front doors and saw Vincent, staring at the world around him. He didn't seem to hear the door shutting behind me over the noise of the falling rain.

"Vincent," I said.

Vincent looked at me over his shoulder.

"Thank you—for saving me, I mean." I looked at the ground. What a burden I'd turned out to be. I peeked up at my savior through my eyelashes. He nodded and turned back toward the scenery.

"We should leave soon," he said after a few moments of silence.

I looked up at him. "What?"

"I spoke with Cloud. He and I agreed that if Sephiroth comes for you while you're out in the open, Tifa won't be able to save you," he said, as if that decided the matter…which, of course, it did.

I wrapped my arms around my stomach and crouched down. "What does he want with me?"

Vincent shook his head. "Cloud says he doesn't know, but we need to leave. Do you feel well enough to walk?"

I nodded. I knew it was time to go.

Vincent led me into an inn near the center of Nibleheim. The sun was just pulling back its last sliver of light when we entered the building, and we were both soaked to the bone from the rain. Vincent rented one room with two beds.

It was only when I saw the beds that I realized how tired I was. I lay down and was asleep before I could get under the covers.

I raised my head. It was second period. So it had been a dream. I knew it! Now, I could get on with my life. My psychology teacher, Mr. Hendersen, asked a question, so I raised my hand and gave the right answer.

When that period ended, Trisha and Carol met me before lunch like they always did. We talked and laughed all the way to the cafeteria. When we sat down to eat our lunches, everything seemed right. I never once looked back to the video game world of Final Fantasy VII.

But then, out of nowhere…

"Who's that, Rosalie?" Carol asked.

I looked over my shoulder and gasped when I saw who it was.

"That's—impossible!" I couldn't breath anymore, nor could I look away from the man that had just entered the lunchroom. "How did Sephiroth get here?"

At that moment, Sephiroth's eyes found me.

I stood, yelling for everyone around me to run, but no one was moving. At that point, I did the only thing I could do. I ran, but before I knew it, Sephiroth was in front of me, beckoning to me. I shook my head at him. There was no way I was going to go with him.

"Then die!" Sephiroth said as he brought his sword down on me…

I screamed and sat up in my bed. I buried my face in my hands and did my best to calm down. When I succeeded, I realized that I wasn't alone. I looked up and saw Vincent staring at me from the window with an eyebrow raised.

"Sorry. I just had a nightmare. I'll be okay. Goodnight." I lay back down and closed my eyes, but I didn't feel like sleeping anymore.

Yenny: R&R Please!

Lacher: Only if you want to!

Yenny: Or if you have any comments or your just bored and you want to say something random.

Lacher: We support being random.

Yenny: Yes, being random makes everyday better! .

Lacher: Chapter three will be posted fairly soon!

Yenny: We hope!

Lacher/Yenny: BYE!