DISCLAIMER: I am in no way affiliated with Squaresoft. Though I do own myself, and my ideas as I write this Fanfic. I also do not own any of the song lyrics selected for each chapter. You know the drill!

Introduction: From within the game world of Final Fantasy 8, Sorceress Edea discovers the outside of the game disc, the outside of the television screen through the eyes of an unfortunate pawn to her evil plans of world domination…

Well, that's the best summary that I can come up with! Anyway, one more thing. Anything that's typed up like this are the song lyrics I insert out of my CD collection. The song lyrics I used in the first chapter are from Sevendust's "Disease", off of their new album Seasons!

Torture From the Devil Woman: Ultimecia

Chapter 1: All Gone Wrong

Tattoo the world! Change Everything!

Save the world for me! Tattoo the world…

Sorceress Edea was sitting on her black metal throne, which she had no use for anymore. The dark green cushion, supporting her bottom. Her china doll face, placid. Nothing on her features seemed to be moving, but her light pink lips. A sorceress in her prime, she was in so much focus that her knight, Seifer Almasy, was ignored. Selective hearing was a specialty when it came to becoming in control of them both. Never show a knight any weaknesses, the treacherous woman had always told herself. Show one little trace of weakness to Seifer, and he would walk all over you.

This was Edea's point of view of life: a chess game. Only she had her own board, and made her own moves whenever she wanted. Seifer, her knight piece, was always chosen to take out the pieces of the opponents', the side of good's, one by one, wiping them clear off the board. If it were a real game of chess, no doubt would her competitor would catch her cheating. The sorceress would just smile, move her favorite chess piece with a simple lift and take another piece from her rival. "This is my game, and you play by my rules," she'd say, softly smiling, with a calm expression to send chills up her opponent's spine. And now, she was considering on giving up her favorite chess piece. She felt he was to be no importance to her plans any longer.

The room seemed to be a castle setting. A throne room. On the floor in front of her, on the flat stone floor, a long rectangular and green carpeting was there for decoration. The border design gave this nature colored accessory a dark feel. Black flames. Dark grey boots were stepping all over the rug's center, back and forth. The young man, the troublesome teenager who worn them had been transformed into a dark character only three hours ago. His face showed a look of impatience. "Do you mind explaining to me what the hell you think you're doing?" he demanded of "his" sorceress. Once again, he was ignored, shut out of her plans. Left in the rest of the darkness of this room. If he wasn't so easily influenced under Edea's dark magic powers, then he wouldn't even WANT to become her knight. Sure, he had this foolish dream of becoming a Sorceress Knight, but he would have never expected anything like this. Was the real Seifer even alert in there? Was he aware that he was serving a sorceress hell bent on plotting something very wicked?

For over two years, he was known as a problem to those who took him in to be trained as a soldier, and a mercenary. At the age of sixteen, Seifer had begun to hate authority, and blew it off by his smug attitude. He'd question why, ignorance being bliss. Add the power of a sorceress, and no one would want to be around Almasy at all, now currently at the age of eighteen. At this time, he was considered to be dangerous. Even the diagonally left dark red line on his face, from the bridge of his nose, and stopping just before entering the cheek, would intimidate innocent civilians that would cross his path.

His sandy blond hair was gelled and brushed back, except for a few short rebel strands. They proudly dangled in front of his forehead. The irises of Seifer's eyes seemed to close to blending in with the rest of the whites, the distinct glow being the exception. This is known to happen when one is possessed by a sorceress like Edea. The color of the irises would glow to a lighter color than usual. In Seifer's case he had a light icy blue green color that seemed to want to give a cold stare and freeze the burning torches mounted on the walls. The only light dim enough to even see through the darkness, physically. Spiritually and mentally? That was something totally different.

The rest of his attire was a soiled, long white trench coat, hiding the sheath of his gunblade, a long, dark silver blade that slightly tilted forward in an angle. There also was a trigger handle, which shot the bullets. Being cut and shot seems to be a bit much for pain, but it suited Almasy fine. A shining silver cross necklace adorned his neck, resting on top of his dark blue shirt underneath the coat.. This wasn't considered to be a holy relic to him, and the cross pendant itself was large and thin, as if two metal needles were fused together. There were red crosses on the sleeves on his coat as well.

As the situation drifts back at the sorceress again, the question Seifer had asked from before remained burning like a flame on a candle, within his own mind. What exactly was Edea becoming so focused on? The air seemed to be vibrating between her fingers. She began mouthing words that could not be heard by anyone. In her mind, only Edea could hear them. Come to me, my child… Come to me, my key. You shall see what's to become of you…

In another world, or dimension, a woman ten years younger was trying to sleep. "Come to me, my child… Come to me, my key. You shall see what's to become of you…" two voices in one had called within her mind. One sounded dark and low toned. …And eerie. The other sounded like a woman's voice to Marianne as she felt the temperature around her slightly increase. Even the small fan she groped to turn on didn't seem to blow it away with its mechanical breath. From what now seemed to be around in the low eighty degree mark was rising. As she was forced to become awake, there was such a brightness that her eyelids quickly closed and felt her body mass to grow light. "What the…" Marianne heard herself mumble as she felt a floating sensation for a few seconds, the temperature quickly decreasing to the sixties.

She felt something a little fuzzy below the palms of her hands, but soft as the light was fading. "What the HELL?!" a male voice shrieked as her eyes opened up slowly. The first thing she had seen was an arm in a dirty white sleeve. The black gloved hand pulled out a large sword looking weapon and pointed it to her throat. She heard his aggressive, angry voice once again to look into the face of the wielder. "Who is she, Sorceress?! What the fuck is going on?!" Amongst the dim light from the flickering torches, Marianne instantly recognized his face. …HOLY SHIT, is that Seifer?! The scar was definitely noticeable for one thing. His face…oh my God. She instantly recognized it. From within her copy of the Final Fantasy 8 game. He looked so real…creepy! Really creepy, how she can hear and see him quite clearly. This must be a dream…but I can't know I'm dreaming within a dream. That's not how it usually is! Marianne thought. As Seifer kept a firm hold of the handle of his Hyperion, the name of his gunblade, to her neck, he had a good look of her. Curly, thick brown hair that was a little disheveled. Her blue green eyes had shown him fear, which part of him enjoyed. She wasn't exactly the woman of his dreams, but looked plain. Just average. Her thick boned form was trembling in her white T-shirt and comfortable blue jeans. Marianne's favorite brand, by the way. Old Navy.

Edea had stood up, calm and in self control. She knew that her "key" to escaping to the girl's world, Earth, would be in shock. She knew that Seifer would feel just the same. As the sorceress observed the scene, Marianne slowly stood on her feet, eyes wide open now. "No…way…" Edea heard her say in a tense, low voice, staring at Almasy. The frightened young woman turned her head as she recognized the older woman walk toward her. Almasy was furious. He disapproved of being kept in the dark of her evil plot. He turned his head toward the evil one, telling him what to do. "Answer me, damn it!!! Who-" "Seifer…" the peculiar woman said, firmly. The way she said it was a calm warning, voice being in control. Seifer fell silent, but his mood remained. That's all it took. Just a firm tone of voice from Edea's glossed lips whenever Almasy was in one of his usual moods, and he would shut up and cool down.

"…Edea?" Marianne wavered, voice unstable. She felt the carpeting beneath her feet, so that was real. She heard Almasy's intense breathing, the breeze reaching to touch her face. That seemed real too. "W-what am I doing here?" she asked. Sorceress Edea softly smiled, making the girl feel uneasy. Marianne noticed her face from the cinema sequences from the game she's had been playing since spring break of this year. The seashell decoration in her hair. The dark dress, that had a color matched feather collar trim. "Marianne," Edea called, much to Marianne's disbelief. Oh shit, she knows my name! What the hell is going on?! was the thought that suddenly spread across her brain as the other female explained, "I brought you here for a trade. I know deep in your desires you always wanted to be here… In return, you'll give up your world to me." What was mentioned by the lady Marianne had recognized from the one game she had been addicted to the past few months didn't make sense to her. "What?" was her automatic response. Edea quickly placed one of her gloved hands on Marianne's forehead as she sent the images, in between flashes of light.

FLASH! It was daytime in Marianne's bedroom as she felt her head coming down to look at the game's case. Seifer's, Rinoa's, and Squall's faces were on the front. Blending in with the white background was a picture of Edea herself. FLASH! The TV screen. She could feel the game controller in both of her hands, and herself sitting on the edge of her bed as she saw the familiar digitalized characters on the TV. A guy in a fur trim collar leather jacket, A spiky blond in baggy light blue shorts and red and blue shirt. A tall, skinny female in pink and peach attire, running in what looked like- FLASH!

In the after effect of those memories, Marianne felt inwardly dizzy for a few moments. But it hit her hard, and quick. "You know…?!" she yelled, shocked. Edea replied, voice not rising or falling, "Yes. I know what this world really is. I've known about you and Earth for quite some time. …Now it is time for me to leave." "Wha…? NO!" the blue green eyed girl realized it was real and happening. It angered her. "I won't let you step an INCH in my world!!!" The edge of Seifer's Hyperion touched her throat. If she dared to move a step forward, he would cut her open like a fish.

Edea took one last look at Seifer, saying, "I won't be having a use for you any longer. I release you from knighthood." Almasy's smug, smirking face remained for a moment longer as Marianne had seen him. In the next few seconds, he had a look of surprise. The glow in his eyes had faded, showing his real eye color. It was blue green. Sometimes it looked more greenish, other times more bluish, depending on the temperature. If it were cold, Seifer's eyes would look more blue than green. Vice versa in warm weather.

Marianne turned to Edea, who stood a few feet from them, eyes closed and concentrating. Her lips mouthed words that Marianne or Seifer could not read. "No, stop RIGHT THERE!!!" Marianne said, quickly taking action, moving past the one who once held her back. Almasy was confused, looking upon the two. Edea's eyes opened, glowing from dark brown to firey red as she said. "You cannot stop me, child… The spell is complete." She moved a hand in front of her as Marianne felt a strong gust of wind push her to the floor, landing on her back. "NO!!!" she screamed as Edea had vanished in a few sparks of light, leaving no trace of herself behind. "Accept my former knight as a parting gift," were her last words.

The truth has died, and the world you wanted to find

There was nothing, nothing but the unforgiven!

What you gonna do for me?

What you gonna do for me?

What you gonna do for me?!

WHAT YA GONNA DO?!

Everything had happened too fast for Almasy that he didn't have a clue as to what the hell was going on. He had lowered his gunblade, and held it by his side. The girl sat up on the carpet beside him. She was taken back by what just happened. Also too fast for Marianne to handle. From her arrival to Edea's disappearance up to this point, she felt her voice pinch up, and her vision began to blur by her upcoming tears. Almasy looked upon her, saying, "Whoa…are you okay?!" He knew what kind of magic spell the older woman had used to push this frightened girl away. "No…" she whimpered. She blinked to see more clearly, as the first two tears began to drip down her cheeks. She wasn't paying much attention to the other person Edea left behind. "Shit," she cursed under her breath. On pure gut instinct, Marianne found out that Edea had switched places with her. Edea would screw her world over now. …Not if she did something to stop her.

Seifer looked down, and put away his Hyperion. He offered his hand as Marianne looked up at him. She began to sob as she figured that he was harmless, and wasn't under Edea's control anymore. It was definitely clear by the eye color. The six foot tall blond helped her to stand. "Seifer, you have to help me," Marianne immediately said to him, voice quivering. He flinched in reaction. He must have blacked out or something, because he didn't know where he was, or how he got into this room. He certainly didn't remember meeting her. "How…how do you know my name? I certainly haven't met you before in my life." Seifer wanted to know.

Damn, he doesn't know what Edea knows!! Marianne mentally yelled in brief observation, agitated. "Ah shit," Marianne scolded herself for blurting out his name in the first place. As Almasy looked at her, she looked pretty afraid. "I…uh…" she fidgeted, trying to improvise something. DO NOT HAVE THE DAMN TIME! Pull yourself together! You have to stop Edea from screwing your home world over!!! she silently screamed to herself as she added to Seifer, "No time for that!!! We have to stop Edea!" As she ran towards the door of Edea's throne room, amazed of the sudden self control, she wished she had shoes on because her bare feet touched the cold stone floor, as she had done before in trying to prevent Edea to escape. The first step made her shiver, as if first stepping inside the water of a swimming pool or an ocean. Seifer didn't have a choice but to follow her.

"Edea?! Was that the bitch who cast that Aero spell on you?" he demanded, running beside this strange girl. "Yeah!" Marianne quickly answered him. She always looked forward, focusing on nothing but to stop the sorceress from ruling over the world she's ever known her whole life. "Fuck, she's switched places with me, and I don't know how she even knows what I know!" She tried to guess where she exactly was on Earth, but had no idea. Panic had broken the walls of self control like water busting through a pile of bricks! This couldn't be happening. She wasn't supposed to BE here. "Where the hell are we anyway?!" The castle setting didn't seem to fade off as she was running forward and out of the corridor. "How the hell should I know?! I thought you would!!" Almasy admitted. He didn't have a clue, and really wanted to, but he couldn't remember a damn thing while being under Edea's control. The last thing he remembered was the woman talking to him, calling him "boy", in which he strongly disliked.

"She brought me here, and I don't know where HERE is!" Marianne yelled to him, tears being the obstacle of clearly seeing forward. She could kind of see a glass door. Could that be the exit to this strange place?

There was a bit of a commotion going on outside. Seifer was the only one out of the two who could crystal clearly see what was going on, while Marianne could only hear the noise in the background. There was a cheering crowd, glittery confetti tossed into the air as fancy costumed people danced in the streets, followed by a float. Marianne wiped away her tears as she approached the glass door and pushed it open. "What the fuck is goin' on…?" Seifer cursed. He witnessed this girl was trying to stop a sorceress from escaping off to Hyne knows where, and now he was seeing a fucking parade?!

Marianne recalled this part, the parade in Deling City. …DELING CITY! That's where we are. The parade… Edea's parade. No Edea. SQUALL AND IRVINE! The thoughts came to her as she realized that she had been put into the first Final Fantasy 8 game disc by Edea. They came so fast she didn't even realize how alert she had become of this bizarre situation. MUST FIND SQUALL. He'll help me, I know it! As soon as she opened the door, the two people she wanted to see just ran right past her. She chased in pursuit after them. This was something she didn't have one single second thought over. Two of the game world's heroes would definitely want to know about where the evil woman went, and that since they were RIGHT THERE, feet away in front of her… Who else could she really think of to turn to in a crazy, insane situation such as this?!

She instantly recognized the guy in the black leather, white fur trim collar jacket, followed by a taller male in a black cowboy hat and light brown trench coat, as long as Seifer's. "HEY! Irvine!! Squall!!" She tried to yell over the crowd to get their attention. Obviously, Squall and Irvine could not hear her and didn't stop running, because of the noisy cheering voices surrounding her.

Seifer recognized Squall's jacket from anywhere, and wanted to know why this strange girl was chasing them. He thought, perhaps THEY know what the fuck's going on. From that moment, he decided to help call to them. "HEY!!! SQUALL!!!" Almasy hollered.

Squall Leonhart, running just a step ahead of Irvine, stopped in his tracks to turn around and look past Irvine. Seifer! Irvine Kinneas turned around too, following his gaze. Leonhart felt his features twist into annoyance from surprise. He saw the girl walk out of the building, and call after him and Irvine, but didn't really pay attention. Didn't want to pay attention, because he was so focused on his mission to assassinate Sorceress Edea. When another voice called to him, that was the time to stop and turn around.

Before anyone else could say anything, the parade was slowing down to a stop. "HEY, EDEA'S NO ON HER FLOAT!!" a guy's voice screeched from far away. The crowd around Marianne, Seifer, Squall, and Irvine quieted down to mutterings of suspicion. Marianne saw that the shouting one was a soldier dressed in blue, wearing a gray helmet. Galbadian soldier! the alarm went off in her brain, as she turned back around to face the guy who got the two other young men to stop running. "Thank you," she quickly told Seifer as she briskly walked up to the two other guys in front of them. "Howdy," Irvine greeted with a gentle smile, but noticed her tear stained eyes, causing him to feel concerned. The smile faded as quickly as it came. "Who are you?" Squall asked her, really confused as to why she was with Seifer. Can't you see that guy could be a threat to you?! This person must be mad too! From the last time Squall had seen Almasy, Quistis had followed him out of Balamb Garden. He was in an outrage, about to wreck some havoc, until he walked off somewhere unseen. Well, unseen to him, Zell, Selphie, Quistis, and Rinoa. Seifer had tried to kill President Deling, and was thought to be executed! What Squall was witnessing was quite a surprise.

"What's with the damn parade?! Why did it stop?!" Almasy yelled, frustrated that he was not being answered at all. "My name is Marianne," she managed to say to Squall, shoving Seifer's demands to the side. The tone of her voice was still unstable, but sounded real urgent as tears were starting to fall down her face. This was her favorite game character she was talking to, who looked real. Acted real as her. Oh God, I'm actually talking to Squall… "Edea's gone. She, she brought me here and…" She wanted to say what she needed to say right away, but felt like she was going to explode. Everything was flying over her head that at anytime soon, she would start to hyperventilate.

Squall and Irvine were taken back by what she said. "Where is she?" Squall asked Marianne, hoping she would know of the sorceress' whereabouts. What is her connection with Edea anyway? To his luck, she did know where Edea went. Regaining her breath, she tried to continue. "Must…stop…Edea…" Irvine placed a hand on her shoulder. "Alright, just calm down. Before you give yourself a heart attack!" he advised to her. Seifer, not wanting to be the odd man out, filled in his input. He suddenly realized that being a Sorceress Knight was something he didn't want anymore. He didn't like having to be blacked out in whatever Edea had done to him. "She was trying to stop her from leaving, but the bitch cast an Aero spell and disappeared!" "What?!" Squall reacted, not happy about this at all. He and Irvine were supposed to shoot her down, and the mission had failed! Damn it! he fumed inwardly to himself. Cid wouldn't be happy about this either… Marianne shoved Kinneas' comforting arm away as she said, "I don't know what's really going on, but she knows about where I'm actually from…which is a different world." She was trying to semi-block out what Seifer was telling them, and had to quickly think up a small lie. They don't even deserve to know that they're game characters! Just manipulate the truth!

Do I care anymore if there's a new beginning?

The simple plan is broken every time it's given…

"Another WORLD?!" Seifer felt his voice rise up a pitch as he gave a shout in disbelief. "It's true, I am from a world called Earth, and Edea wants to take it over. I-I-I don't know how she found out about me, but she did!!" Marianne panicked, putting all of her faith on the three guys surrounding her. Her words came out all at once, not wanting to waste time at all! Earth was in danger…. Her mom and dad…. Everyone she knew and cared about over there were at risk to chaos. Two things were pulling her apart. She knew what was going on in this game world, which she didn't even know was REAL! She was worried about going home and stopping the sorceress too. It was all a mass of chaos to her.

"Please, you guys gotta help me." she pleaded of them. Squall gave a nod, eyes narrowing, but trusting her. In watching her try to explain to them what happened, with Seifer's help, he could see she was panicking, looking really scared. Pure honesty. Leonhart never saw someone that scared in his life, and she was scaring HIM. She looks terrified. I don't think she's lying, he told himself in thought. "But, how do we get to your world, where ever it is?! I don't see any spaceship around here." Irvine pointed out. He was cut off by the screaming civilians behind him as he saw and heard Marianne scream with a look of pure terror.