memorable

We were doing a dress rehearsal. My group had two routines, but I could only remember how to do one of them so I freaked out.

I was near a stage, in a theater. A guy started asking me a bunch of random questions for a project. They were fairly basic things about my life, but I didn't know the answer to a lot of them. He got fed up with my lack of knowledge after he asked how much my phone service cost. I tried to look it up, but ended up in the game section instead. I went through some menus, then played Kirby for a while because I couldn't figure out how to quit.

By the time I was finished the guy had left, and I was in my physics classroom. I found a theater app on my iPod. I clicked on it, and an animation took me through some doors and down a hall. There were green horses running alongside me.

Somewhere in here I entered the image on the screen. I came to a round room with a balcony. There were some dolphins swimming through the air in a circle with a ring of bison floating upside down above them, moving in a circle in the opposite direction.

I figured I shouldn't just accept that as reality. If something like that were to happen in a dream and I didn't reality check, I knew I would be upset with myself, so I figured I should RC just in case. I did a nose RC, which mostly just confused me. I counted my fingers and had an extra, but maybe I was just counting wrong. I counted them again, more carefully, and determined that I most definitely had six fingers where there should be four.

I grabbed the balcony's railing and noted that it was dark. I took a couple of steps down the hall, thinking that I should rush to do whatever I was going to do before I woke up. I stopped and remembered to stabilize, but I couldn't figure out exactly how. I felt like I was falling asleep. I woke up.

I was boating down a river with some other people, being carried by the current. Back on shore, I found out I had to read another book and take a test for AP Spanish Literature. It was an extra test that was only for people who were really serious about Spanish. I started reading the book and found that it was a Bible with a bunch of little books inside.

I'd forgotten my lunch, so my friend gave me one of hers. At the beginning of each week she packed lunch for the entire week. I thought this was a great idea and decided that I should do that too so that I wouldn't forget my lunch. She also let me borrow a writing book, which I read and took notes in. Then I realized that she might not have wanted me to write in it, but it was too late because I'd written in pen. I went to return it to her and hoped she wouldn't notice.

I was in a field. I went off past some bushes to a little clearing, looking for my friend. Instead I found a couple of mice "having fun" while a third mouse looked on. There were some rabbits nearby too. I hugged one of the bunnies.

A DC (my dad?) started demanding that he get the babies. At first I thought they were mice babies, but then I realized they were kittens, and the kittens soon turned into foals. The owner of the horses also wanted the foals, so they compromised by deciding that each of them would get one. I wondered how many babies a horse had at a time. In any case, there were two running around.

One of the foals got out, so they rounded it up on horseback. A kid jumped on the foal's back and got it back into the corral, but in doing so he had injured it and it was going to die soon. I wondered who would get the foal that was still alive. Outside of the dream plot, I saw a leopard sneaking through the grass. It pounced on the second foal and ate it while the rest of us ran away.

I went down a hall and into my room. I locked the door, then hid in a side room, which looked like an elevator. I leaned against the door to hold it shut, since it didn't lock. The police broke into my room through the window, then tried to get into the side room. Eventually they convinced me to come out. Then they started going through all the people present to make sure they weren't dangerous.

★★★

Ugly Fat Bald Guy

I'm walking with my brother in some strange town. He tells me he is going to look for his friend. for some reason I enter a store. After looking through it for a bit I find an empty lot outside that's fenced off but it had a gate on one end. Standing before me is a familiar fat bald guy. I'm non lucid so his appearance terrifies me! he says "ahh you've come for a good beating I see. Don't try to run you'll never escape!" He pulls out a chain and starts twirling it around. I run for the exit and bit he blocks me path. I tell him that I give up. and He says we have to go inside for the beating. He goes ahead of me through the door

"PSYCH!" I yell and rin for the fence. The dream slows down as I leave the gate. but through the gate is a wooden fence? I hide there so he doesn't see me. He looks around a bit and goes back in the store. I know the only way out is through the store. I sneak back in. I can hear the man ranting to his friends about how great he is. I run with my trunk forward through the aisles so they don't see me. On my way out the front door, the mans girlfriend spots me, she smiles but doesn't say anything to the man.

After I leave I find my brother. He's with shannon and another younger gilr emiting a purple aura. I tell him I'll hang with him. He protests at first, but i tell him some creepy guy is prowling around, and if he attacks us we'll hav more people to Defend ourselves.

False Awakening

FA, Get out of bed and my dad is standing there... or is it my guide? anyway we talk about something but the dream is so vague i can't remember.

going to meet Mzzkc

I'm in my guides car and we are driving around calgary at night time. I know I've dreamed many times in this place. I remember lots of winding roads. Eventually he drops me off at a place that Mzzkc is at. It's in a plaza, and it's a one floor office building.

I go inside and see my friend Rusty in side with two other people. They are setting up for something. There's a woman at a table (asuka). she tells me it's a $20 fee to enter. I pull out money and she tells me to put it in the cash register, which is a giant round orange wax candle with a flame in the center. I remember thinking it was weird, but i put the money in it anyway.

Note: Mzzck also had a dream this night about being in an office building.

Crazy shite

I'm on my computer and I'm looking at an old song that nomad once made about dreamsharing. there's an orange light bulb lever i have to puch in order to play it though. After I am done I go into the kitchen. Asuka looks like my mom. and she's acting crazy... insulting me and what not. My, guide is there so I ask him what's going on. He says that this isn't real and I should definitely call for help.

Asuka announces she will kill herself. with a manical grin she pulls out a bare razor blade for an olfa knife. She cuts her left wrist, first across the tracks and then down the tracks. She holds her left arm up to me. I can see a thin line where it cut, then blood starts to come from it. She then laughs manically.


Raven's house

I am standing outside a nice looking house thta belongs to Raven knight. all i remember is being jealous since my house didn't look as nice...

note: Walms also found raven at a strange house that night
Flying

I'm walking around the old chilliwack highschool. Actually it's a cross between that highschool and my elementary school. I discover a door that leads up. I walk into an extra part of the the school that's being built: an upper level. I'm on a ledge now and I see some men in a higher up part putting on drywall. I jump up and float a bit. I think "weird I didn't know i could do this in waking life... I usually do this in dreams"

I then fly up by the men working and land on a higher ledge. all the workers stop and am Amazed that i can fly. They say to do more. i flap my arms like wings and it takes me up. I then try to use another set of wings on my back... they worked in dreams so they might in waking life? anyway my memory gets foggy after this.

Labyrinth?

i am walking in a house labyrinth. Actually running through it. A woman is behind me, we go down many hallways and find many hiding places.

New forum

I'm with asuka in a dark classroom. The room represents a forum for dreamers. I sit with her on a couch. She is saying something like, half of the people here know that I'm her boyfriend. I say that it shouldn't be a problem, people will less likely bother her at this place since they know that. I then put my arm around her and we talk some more.

Later i go to my computer and log into DV. i have a long message from nomad sent to me and other forum people. He's talking about the new forum and how a bunch of members decided to go. he is also inviting everyone to come along.

Piloting a Helicopter:
I was in some city at night, possibly New York since that's what I thought it was. There was a large skyscraper which stood out since there were no other really large buildings nearby. It was silver covered all over with windows. The middle of this building was caved in, so, that the two remaining sides were standing out. The city especially the streets surrounding this building were very foggy which made it difficult to see around. I found myself flying a helicopter above a building which I assumed was the hotel that I was staying in with some of my family members. There were a lot of cars on the roof and my family members were also with me. We planned to evacuate the helicopter, even though there didn't seem to be any problems at all. My sister decided to jump first and ran towards the open door. I told her to get a parachute first but she showed me that she has one and jumped out. She opened her parachute halfway or so and landed in what looks like a tire yard surrounded by a fence, but, she's ok. My mother goes next and after she jumped, she opened the parachute a bit too late and ended up landing in a small patch of water near the tire yard. I only knew this because I saw the splash. My little brother was next. I don't think he had his parachute on and I couldn't help him out. As I recall, both my mother and sister were on the roof top pointing for us to land the helicopter. I tried to land it on the roof of the building and came close where in some cases, it was touching, but, for whatever reason, I couldn't maintain it. Pretty soon, I seemed to be losing control since it started moving towards the edge of the building(tried to keep it over the building). It went over the edge and I can't recall the rest.

Airport Stealing:
I put something like bags away. I think I was at an airport. I decided to go around and steal some stuff. Since there were people waiting to be called for their flights, they were sitting on some chairs with their bags and stuff on the shelves behind them making it the perfect opportunity. I just walked by and started to steal them. In some cases, I decided not to, one case involving 6 or 7 wooden pencils. I can't recall what happens after.

Thoughts: The first dream was definitely interesting. It was pretty dark but the overall ambience was great. I got to pilot a helicopter, too bad I wasn't lucid. However, I think I was starting to fear the outcome of the situation had I crashed it and since I was having a hard time controlling it, that would have happened eventually. If fear is my dreamsign, I would have probably became lucid before it happened which would have been great, so, I guess I came close to lucidity As for the second dream, it was pretty hard to remember much from it even as I tried to remember the details

Note: I went to bed tonight with an unexpected goal. MoSh had come on the computer and said there were some disturbing things going on with him, he'd had a nightmare, so my goal was to go check out MoSh's inner world and make sure things were ok in there. This was the goal I had in mind when I fell asleep. Once again no WILD, but I did have the following dreams…

I was at work. It was the hospital where I used to work. I was sitting at my desk. I had been sleeping. Crap… I looked around and saw Susie also asleep. Well, at least I hadn't been seen sleeping. I got up and paced a bit in the office to try to wake myself up. I woke Susie up. She looked up at me and asked what I was doing. I said I was sleepy so I was walking to wake myself up. She said to grab a pillow and sleep then, it was nap time. Nap time? Since when did my job have nap time? She must have seen that I was confused. She asked how else am I supposed to check the inside of the servers except through a lucid dream? She said I should get to sleep and into a lucid so I could go check out the MExchange1 server while she finished checking on the Harp0 server. She lied her head down to go back to sleep. Checking servers in lucid dreams? Better get in the habit of doing RCs. To begin that I did a RC right there. I could breathe through my nose even when I pinched it… I was dreaming right now! Screw this job! I'm outta here!

I walked out of the office and down the hall to the door that led to the fire exit. Concrete stairs led both up and down from there, but instead I climbed up on the concrete railing. I did another RC just to be sure, then I jumped into the air and flew. Yay flying! Yay lucid dream! Ok… focus. I flew away from the hospital and thought about my goals. I wanted to do a DDO dream… I wanted to open a locked book I have in my inner world… I wanted to complete the task of… MoSh! That name pushed into my head with force. MoSh! I had said I was going to go check out what had happened with MoSh! I bumped paying a visit to MoSh to the top of my list of goals. I focused on opening a portal… at first it didn't want to work, but then I focused harder and it opened. I flew through the portal…

I landed in the yard outside of MoSh's house. The weather was bright and sunny. I went over to the house. I could hear voices inside, a man and a woman were talking really mushy mush to each other. I looked inside through the window and saw MoSh and Asuka kissing pretty heavy. I didn't want to interrupt their make-out session. I turned to leave, but I remembered I was going to check on Asuka. I looked into the window again. I would check on both of their energies to see if there was any sign of contamination. I looked, focused, and I saw none. It wasn't just that I saw no contamination, I saw no energy at all! They weren't real! Wtf? I quickly made up a corny rhyme spell… "Dispel the vision that I see, from illusion set me free." The illusory MoSh and Asuka vanished… and the entire scene shifted…

Now I was in the basement of MoSh's house. MoSh and Asuka were chained to two separate stone tables. There were people there torturing them. I recognized the torturers, too. Nomad was peeling MoSh's skin off and Angel was sticking rusty nails in Asuka. Wtf?! No way could that really be Nomad and Angel… Whoever it was I was going to stop them. I went in to stop them and noticed again… no one there had any energy. I repeated the spell I'd made to dispel illusions… "Dispel the vision that I see, from illusion set me free!"

The scene shifted again, but not much this time. It had just shifted so that Nomad and Angel were being tortured by MoSh and Asuka instead of the other way around. "Dispel this vision that I see, from illusion… glurk…" My spell was interrupted when I nearly puked. MoSh had just torn one of Nomad's eyes out and fed it to Asuka, popping it into her mouth like a piece of candy… Yuck! I went through my dispel illusion spell faster so I wouldn't get distracted again… "Dispel this vision that I see, from illusion set me free!"

The scene changed again. Asuka tied up naked between two trees in a forest, MoSh videotaping as a line of disgusting looking men forced themselves on her. Asuka was screaming and crying… no… repeat dispel illusion spell… MoSh and Asuka swapped places, the ugly men were doing MoSh from the rear while Asuka filmed it and laughed, "How do you like it, you sick fuck?" Um… no… repeat dispel illusion spell. The scene shifted. Asuka and MoSh having pretty violent and raunchy sex… well, I don't know how they like to do it… The people had no energy, not real. Repeat dispel illusion. MoSh stabbing Asuka many times and then coming towards me with the bloody knife… no… dispel illusion… MoSh and Asuka skinning live animals, couldn't tell what kind… no… dispel illusion. This was getting ridiculous! Asuka giving oral pleasure to MoSh then suddenly ripping his… um… you-know-what off with her teeth… no… dispel illusion, dispel illusion, dispel illusion! Damn it! Why wasn't it working?! I focused carefully, not paying any attention to the screaming around me as who did I-don't-want-to-know-what to who… and focused on the spell, "Dispel this vision that I see, from illusion set me free. All this horror cannot be, make it gone, so mote it be!"

I stood there with my eyes closed a bit longer. No screaming… no sounds of raunchy sex… no crying… no sounds of animals in pain… I carefully opened my eyes. I was outside of MoSh's house. There was a strange fog hanging over the area. Q telepathically told me it's called a fog of illusion. The fog lent a creepy aspect to everything. I used the song Full Moonlight to gather up the strange fog from all over, in the house, all around… into a small orb that I threw into a void.

Ok, now where were MoSh and Asuka? I had to find them. I felt for their energy and found it. They were both in the house. I went in through the front door, following Asuka's energy because she was closer. I found her in the kitchen, in the pantry, cowering in the back corner trying to make herself invisible. She saw movement, shrank back, but then came to me crying tears of relief. She said she was so glad to see me… MoSh had been infected with dark energy, he was trying to kill her, and she hadn't been able to do anything for him. She said she had tried to get out of the house to get help, but he was always waiting there with his huge knife, saying which parts of her he wanted to cut off first… "Please help him," Asuka said, "It's not his fault… it's dark energy, I'm sure…"

I checked Asuka for energy corruption. I found none, but I did a Touch My Heart healing spell on her anyway. Golden energy flowed into her. I then followed MoSh's energy. It was downstairs in the basement. I found him there. He seemed to be sneaking along the back wall, trying to blend with the shadows, getting closer to the stairs. He saw me there and apparently thought I was Asuka. "Come on, Asuka," he said, "Try to fight it! You need healing! Just fight it for a bit… I really don't want to hurt you!"

"I'm not Asuka," I said. He heard my voice and recognized it. He came running over to me and put his arms around me. He said he was really glad to see me, Asuka needed healing… and she needed it bad. He motioned to the far side of the room. Shawna came out. MoSh said Asuka had tried to kill both of them, and neither Shawna nor him had been able to heal her. But she needed help badly… I would help, wouldn't I? I said I already had seen Asuka and I had used a healing spell on her. I used Touch My Heart on MoSh and Shawna, though they didn't look infected, either.

When MoSh and Asuka were in the same room, I told them what illusions I'd had to break through in order to get to the reality of MoSh's inner world. The psycho version of MoSh trying to kill Asuka and the psycho version of Asuka trying to kill MoSh and Shawna weren't real, they had just been illusions. Very convincing, very hard to penetrate. I told them there had been a strange fog all over the place, the fog of illusion. They seemed to understand and accept that, now everyone was pissed. Who the fuck had put that there? How had they gotten in? I wondered if it was something L had done when he was inside before, or if he had used another dirty trick to come back and do it… because if he had come back after the incident last night, he was apparently looking for a permanent playmate in Walms. The idea that L secretly finds being beaten to a pulp to be a turn-on crossed my mind briefly, but I got rid of that because it would make me sick very quickly…

Asuka, Shawna, and MoSh were all hugging now. MoSh pulled me into the hug. We all hugged there for a couple minutes, everyone was relieved that things seemed normal now. MoSh was thanking me for helping. I said I would be there to help any time, I was glad he and Asuka and Shawna were all ok. The dream slipped, and I woke up, disappearing right out of the group hug.

I was in bed. I rolled over and stroked the furry animal beside me. Soft and silky fur. The cat started to purr. So sweet… I stroked her for a couple minutes before I realized I had to get up and use the bathroom. I got out of bed and looked over at my bedroom door. There was someone in the doorway! Wtf? I grabbed a sword I had beside my bed. I know it is a cheap sword, but it is at least pointy… I held the sword towards the person at the door and asked who it was. The person, a man, said I sure am jumpy when I'm not lucid. He turned the light on. It was briefly blinding, but my eyes adjusted quickly. I recognized him. It was Walms. Wait a minute… he's in Mexico! I did a RC and found out I was dreaming.

I put the sword down and asked Walms how long he had been there. He said not long. I said that was good, having people coming into my room and watching me sleep is a bit creepy. He said he was wondering how long it would take me to notice him there. He said if he had been an enemy, it wasn't nearly fast enough. I said but then again, he's not an enemy. Hostiles put off entirely different energy… even if he was looking to attack me for a training fight, he would still be putting off different energy. Ok… remember the goals… I was going to take Walms to see L. At the same time I thought that Walms said it. I opened a portal while focused on getting back to L and both of us went through it.

On the other side we were in the same place where I found Asuka. There was a beautiful pool with a lot of women swimming and lounging around the pool in string bikinis. I spotted L almost right away, too. He was sitting in one of the chairs watching all of the women. He was practically drooling. The women seemed to be deliberately showing off their bodies to him, all laughing and giggling like they were having a great time. I wondered how brainless they must be to enjoy the pool with that piece of shit lounging on the side of it… or if he was in the pool, the pool would then become a toilet with a piece of shit floating in it. Yuck!

L got up when I arrived. I hadn't been trying to hide my energy or anything, so he no doubt saw that I was there. He got a big grin on his face. He said he was glad to see that I had changed my mind about coming back. Now for some more appropriate attire… my Assassin's robes changed to a blue string bikini… like the one on this woman in the photo… and then go ahead and enjoy the pool and the refreshments. I looked at the bikini I was now in, but I didn't bother changing it. There were more important things to do here than argue over my outfit.

I told L I had brought a friend. L said that is great! He said he hoped I had brought Tigress… she is the cat's meow. I frowned at the comment and wondered if he could manage to make himself sound any lamer. I said I had brought a friend who wanted to play with him. He said that sounded great, where is she? Walms was there with me, and L didn't look pleased to see him.

"Nope," L said immediately, somehow getting his women to gather around him as if to prove this point, "No way. No guys. Girls only. There is no way I'm going to bother playing games with any guys. No way, it's women all the way for me. Women only. No…"

It seemed like L was protesting a bit too much… Walms interrupted L. He said maybe he would just have to get rid of these distractions then. I didn't object to that… those women were clearly illusory DCs and not real people. That was proven even more when Walms cut a few of them open with his claws and instead of bleeding they deflated… like blow-up dolls. Walms deflated all of the women dolls around L, which seemed to piss L off. I wondered why he cared since he can always create more DCs. Either way, the goal of getting L pissed was working. They got into a brief fight, L summoned up some armor. He said nothing could penetrate that armor… and in just seconds Walms had shredded it all off of him, leaving L looking shocked and yelling expletives… Walms appeared behind L, beat on him a bit, and then threw him down on the ground, saying something about L being too pathetic to offer any kind of a decent fight… Then Walms was on top of L… it sounded like he was threatening him. I didn't hear everything that was said, but I got the basic gist of what was said. The basic idea was that if L ever bothered Ranma (what Walms calls MoSh) again Walms would come back to have some more fun with L. L was trying to look pissed off, but I think he was hiding fear… I think he was about to shit his pants. I was just about rolling on the ground laughing. Walms tossed L aside, apparently not seeing him as worth any more of his time. Walms looked back over at me. I think he said something, but then I woke.

Two lucids last night! Yay!

The first was very dark. I was walking down a dark street and simply knew it was a dream. I think beforehand I had been looking for my dogs leash, or rather, a dog leash somewhere. I then realized that I was holding the leash and walking her down the street.

Anyway, I realize I'm dreaming and decided that I wanted to fly into space and explore another planet. I started drifting upwards, and then saw my dog still on the leash. For some reason I couldn't come back down and unleash her, so I decided to use my mind to do it. I made the leash unhook from up in the air and she came catapulting up next to me. The sky was beautiful, and I started to penetrate into space, everything was blue and cloudy... wispy. The dream ended.

--

I'm in my room, and I wake up. I feel like something is off. Everything feels really weird. D is there and is yelling about something. I feel like this must be a dream. I look at my hands and count my fingers to do a reality check. I could about 8 fingers on my left hand. I know I'm dreaming, but this feels too real. I think, maybe I can fly through the ceiling since it's a lucid dream. I jump and hit my head on the ceiling, I can't penetrate it. I feel like I spent a really long time knowing I was dreaming but was somewhat overwhelmed about being wrong that I was dreaming. I ended up catapulting myself through the window.

I lost lucidity shortly after. I remember inheriting a house and having the neighbors yell at me because there was an anarchy sign on the side of the house. It was very small. I also remember driving down some jenky road that I wasn't supposed to.

Okay, guys. I'm done spamming the Recent Entries section, I promise.

Also, romance with a fictional character? Very lame. Thankfully, this can only end badly.

What greater weapon is there than to turn an enemy to your cause—to use their own knowledge against them?



I'm browsing through the sale aisle at Bootlegger when I feel the temperature drop. Slowly, I place the t-shirt I was holding back on the rack, and reach out with my senses, feeling at the presence that appeared directly behind me. I can feel a stare burning into the back of my head, and I turn around, keeping my hands visible and obviously empty.

Standing there is a dark-haired man in a trench coat, staring at me without blinking. Aside from the creepiness factor, he doesn't appear to be a threat, but I can see beyond the physical. Cold light bleeds from his form, barely contained within his vessel, and I check my initial impulse to attack.

"Is there something I can help you with?" I ask, gesturing with my hands.

His expression doesn't change, though I notice a slight twitch of annoyance. "My name is Castiel. I'm an angel of the Lord." He says this tiredly, as if it's something he's had to recite a lot lately.



Come to think of it, I'm pretty sure I've heard those words before. I'm still caught up in the feeling of deja vu when he says, "Luc, heaven has work for you."

The words jolt me back into the present. "Wait, what?" I say. "My name's ---."

"Of course it is." says Castiel.

I calculate my chances of being able to control the holy fire I'm about to summon. Blue flames start to dance across my fingertips and my claws lengthen in response to my irritation.

A ball of pure kinetic force slams into my side, sending me flying through the glass store-window. I pick myself up from the ground and spin to face my attacker, a man I barely get a glance at before I'm dodging another kinetic missile.

The force slams through the back wall of the shop, sending people screaming for cover. I roll into a crouching position and pull all the glass around me into the air. I throw the broken glass and the shards fly like bullets toward the attacker. Before they've even hit, I'm sending a wave of holy fire at him.

The incompatible energy burns ice-cold, sucking the heat from my bones. I collapse, shaking, fighting for breath. I manage to raise my head to look at the wall of fire that's burning on its own, and decide that it'll probably hold off the angels long enough for me to escape.

A hand grips the back of my shirt and hauls me to my feet. I look up at Castiel and groan.

"Bit of a trigger-happy bodyguard?" I complain, leaning on the angel for support. "Was that Lucifer? It looked like Lucifer." I mutter.

Castiel actually rolls his eyes. "We should depart. It would be best to avoid him for now."

"Oh no." I say, stepping back from Castiel on still-wobbly legs. "I can't take any more of your light-based heavenly magics right now. I say we walk."

Castiel just looks around our flaming surroundings. The building will probably fall down on us any second now.

"Fine." I say, closing my eyes and bracing for more hypothermia. I feel Castiel touch my shoulder, and a sudden lurch, and I open my eyes. We're standing in a three-car garage; concrete floors, white walls. The weirdest thing? I feel completely fine.

"Guess I've found an angel I'm not allergic to." I say, "Where are we?"

"Heaven."

"What?"

Castiel doesn't have time to answer. Flames are appearing from nowhere, licking up through the concrete floor and burning it away. The flames explode outward in a spiral and I shield as best as I can, but I can feel them lick at me, burning cold.

I'm running toward the door to the house, stepping onto the tile floor and slamming the door shut behind me. There's an inch of space left, and the door won't stay shut.

Last time, it actually closed the whole way, a little voice reminds me, but Lucifer is on the other side of the door, twisting the doorknob and I pull against the door, holding it shut from the inside. Lucifer is pounding on the door, causing it to rattle in its frame. I'm worried he might actually knock it down.

Of course, the fact that he hasn't is a little insulting.

"You know, I am way better at being you." I mutter.

I look around for something to brace the door with. The garage opens directly into the kitchen. Metatron is walking through on the far side, behind the island.



"Hey, Metatron! A little help here?" I say hopefully, still holding the door shut. It shudders against the onslaught.

Metatron looks down his nose at me. "Honestly, Luc, the lot of you are acting like children," he sneers, and continues on his way.

"My name is ---!" I shout at his retreating back.

The feeling of ice water is creeping back into my veins. I shiver and lean against the doorframe for support, gripping the doorknob with my right hand. I hear shouting from the other side of the door and the noise is lessening. Lucifer's not trying to get in.

When Castiel appears beside me, the room seems to get a little warmer. I'm clutching at the lapels of his trench coat before I even realize what I'm doing. The cold is fading away, though, and I decide that it's worth the awkwardness.

"Is he gonna back off?" I grumble into Castiel's shoulder.

Castiel tentatively places his arms around me. "Raphael understands that we need your help. So long as you don't burn down any more buildings, I think you'll be fine." He pauses, considering. "If he finds out that you mistook him for Lucifer, though, he might try to kill you again."

"Raphael." I blink, pulling away. "That makes more sense."

"I also recommend that you remain close to me," Castiel says, "Heaven's defenses seem to have an adverse affect on you as you are now."

I shiver. "Fair point. Now what the hell is it you want me to do?"

---

It turns out, the bright blue energy I've been playing with for the last few weeks has been wreaking havoc on Heaven's delicate ecosystem. For some strange, probably sinister reason, I'm the only one who can fix it.

Part of the living room has been torn away to reveal a crack in the dream-fabric. Blue electricity is spitting from the black chasm, and the angels in the room shy away from it every time it crackles. Castiel and I walk into the room without much fanfare, though the two angels hurry out as soon as we get there.

"Is there something I'm missing?" I wonder aloud.

"You need to absorb the Lux. We'll be able to repair the tears," says Castiel, pointedly not answering my question.

"So there is something I'm missing." I say, turning around to look at Castiel. "What happens to me if I do this?"

Castiel's face is deliberately expressionless. "You'll be able to withstand our defenses on your own for a time. Once we've repaired the tear, I'll return you to Earth and the Lux will fade away on its own."

I turn back to the tear, staring into the terrifying void, alive with crackling blue. It's breathtaking, in a way.

"---," he says, catching my elbow. I look back at him. "Please do this."

I smile and say, "I never could say no to you, Cas." It feels like I've said the words before.

Castiel pulls back like he's been burned, and I turn to the void, holding out a hand and bracing myself. I focus on the blue energy and pull -



It's like crashing headfirst into a star. The whole world is alive - burning - and I can see. I can see everything. I can see blue, blue, bright, light blue, and it's trailing after every living thing in the universe. I don't know. I don't know what it is, but it's not light, not like Heaven, not like the power Readers have. It's deeper, more primal, and it wants nothing more than to be free -

My world explodes with blue light, and my bits and pieces of awareness are interrupted by the intense humming of the Lux in my veins. I'm vaguely aware of strong arms pulling me away from the hungry black tears in the dream-fabric, of clutching at the rough fabric of a coat, trying to hold on to something tangible, before I'm torn away from him and left to calm down.

The next thing I know, I'm in the kitchen. I'm sitting on a stool at the island, propping my elbows up on the granite countertop, resting my chin on my hands. Most of my attention is on the movie being projected on the wall across the room. I have a vague recollection of choosing Dogma just to be obstinate.

Castiel walks in from the living room, looking neither more or less rumpled than he usually does.

"How'd it go?" I ask.

"We were successful, thanks to you," he says. "How are you feeling?"

"Fine." I say, "Better than fine." I can still feel the Lux thrumming through my veins, offering me power beyond my wildest dreams.

As much as I might like Cas, he doesn't need to know that.

"We've done this before, haven't we?" I ask quietly.

Castiel looks away, and I catch his hand in mine. He meets my gaze, looking sad.

I let go of the breath I was holding. "Wish I could remember."

Our hands are still threaded together, and he squeezes my hand, says, "Let me take you home."

And we're standing at the center of an empty city square, bathed in orange under the afternoon sun. The cobblestones are warm beneath my feet, and the air is dry and still. Castiel and I are holding hands, and when I look up at him, my breath catches in my throat.

"We'll just do the same thing, Cas, over and over again. You know that."

"It has to be this way."

"It doesn't." I insist, but Castiel is already letting go of my hands.

"I'm sorry, ---." He raises two fingers to my forehead, preparing to erase my memories.

My force push sends him flying through a brick wall. Dust and mortar fly everywhere and the angel collapses in a heap. The rest of the wall falls in on him.

I'm standing with my palms outstretched, panting. I let my hands fall to my sides, and watch silver-white light leak from the pile of stones. I don't have much time.

I flee the square, running over the cobblestones and heading toward the cliff overlooking the rest of the city. I don't slow down; I leap from the cliff and focus on the rooftops hurtling toward me.

As I land, I blanket this section of the city with my black and red aura, sending my awareness out in all directions until only the blue-white energy is left. I can feel the pull to a place only I can find, and I close my eyes and let myself drift toward Lux.

Seven Minutes in Heaven. Scare Factor: 3.

Two girls hide in a closet behind the bathtub. The dream has been third person for a while now, focusing on the girls, who are part of a super-secret experiment involving clones or superpowers or whatever.

The Matron is walking into the room, and the pre-teen girls - Rae and Johanna - are hiding from her. Rae is about to leave the room and face her, hoping that she can still save Johanna from a horrible fate. Rae takes a deep breath and steps out into full view of the office -

Only to be blocked from sight by an adult stepping in front of the door. It's me. The Matron is coming in behind me, and I'm distracting her from Rae.

"It's always an... experience, hosting a representative of Cypher Industries." The Matron says, ushering me toward one of the chairs facing her desk.

"I've no doubt," I say, sending a wink at the girls hovering at the bathroom door. No doubt the Matron knows they're there, but she's ignoring them so far.

"If I may ask," she says, sitting down, "What brings you here? Our corporations have not been on the best of terms, as of late. Your safety is not assured."

"I'm supposed to give you this." I throw a sheaf of papers onto the desk in front of her.

She doesn't touch it. "And this is?"

"Oh," I say, rolling my eyes, "Roundabout legaleze that doesn't mean much. It's basically demanding access to what we consider to be our property."

"Really?" says the Matron icily, "And what property would this be?"

"You are in possession of two very special little girls. We want them; I'm taking them."

"Why shouldn't I kill you right now?" Her hands are folded on the table, her head tilted to the side.

"Oh, that's easy," I say, leaning back in my chair. "The term is 'Tactical Nuclear Missile Strike'."

"Excuse me?"

"My team is currently flying directly overhead," I say, leaning forward, "If I flatline, then they will immediately make the entire island -" I wave my hands, "Explode."

There is a beat of silence.

"Get out."

"I'll be taking the brats, then." I jump from my seat, smiling widely, and make for the door. "Pleasure doing business with you!"

Rae and Johanna are right behind me. The three of us run down the glass staircase, laughing, as the world unravels around us.

Corporate Sabotage. Scare Factor: 2.

...I am a psychopath.

I'm running away from something. I'm underground, and it's dark and brown and I propel myself forward upward through the cave system. The thing I'm running away from is catching up to me, but I realize that I'm dreaming. I spin on my heel, turn around to confront the creature. I feel an icy thrill of fear when I see it. An inky black miasma chokes the air around me, and I can feel the creature's energy trying to infect my every pore.

I use that against it.

I expand my awareness, absorbing the black energy and forcing it to change, twisting it into an approximation of my own energy. I blanket the creature in a cloud of soft red and black, my aura, and allow the energy to dissippate.

All of my surroundings are gradations of red and black, and I find the atmosphere calming. All that's left of the monster is a swathe of black fabric on the ground, and a round plush toy that doesn't make much sense. I step over the toy and peer out into a gigantic cavern.

The very air starts to hum. I can feel bright blue energy spiking through the dream, interrupting the calm dark colours, and the energies start to clash as everything fades to white.

Something Blue. Scare Factor: 6.

And then I went to the dentist's office and found this:


It's identical.

"Don't see why we had to take a job on this bo shui kueh piece of rock." I grumble to myself.

Mal steps onto the loading ramp. "Who's in rutting command here, Jayne?" He doesn't wait for an answer.

"All right everybody," he says to the crew assembled inside the ship. "We've got 'til nightfall before anything needs doing. With the exception a Jayne, here," he slaps me on the shoulder and ignores my growl, "You can all enjoy the benefits of civilization until that time. Kaylee? I believe you had something you needed to pick up..."

Mal goes over to Kaylee and discusses specifics of cost and necessity, and I pick up two 20-liter buckets full of water and start trudging into the muddy rainforest.

The first group of people I run into turn out to consider this a sacred duty or something, and decide not to kill me for this reason. That's really all I can remember up until the point that I join forces with a younger girl and go climb up a tower that just appeared. My boots have been traded out for the running shoes that I wear in real life.

The tower turns into an insanely high jungle gym, of the fall-off-and-you-die variety. The four people I'm with turn this into a game, describing the best way to get to the top. There are posts built into certain places for no reason, and these turn out to be part of the puzzle. I run up a 45 degree angle and slip, barely catching myself. I keep jumping upward until I'm climbing the underside of a slide. I've reached the top, and I'm just about to pull myself up -

I wake up.

Welcome to the Jungle. Scare Factor: 3. You know, Mal, as it is my dream, technically, I'm in command.

bo shui kueh: ...a restaurant? Apparently, I need to work on my Chinese.[/QUOTE]

I take the stairs two at a time, with Angel right behind me. We reach the top floor of the Ixburg apartment building, rounding the corner so fast I slide a bit. I practically crash into the door at the end of the hallway, and start to pick the lock telekinetically.

Angel stops me with a hand on my wrist. "What if your parents are home? We could be putting them in danger."

A bit of dread creeps into my stomach, and I try to ignore it.

"They haven't lived here for years," I say dismissively. I shake free and flick the door open.

The sound of thunder in the distance. "Quick!" I say, pulling Angel by the arm. I pull him into the apartment and slam the door shut.

My mom and dad are standing in the entrance, looking surprised. My brother is there, and Sam and Dean Winchester are off in the background.

"Mom. Dad." I say, "This is... great."

Silence.

"I want you to meet my boyfriend!" I say, threading my hand through with Angel's. "This is Angel. Angel, this is my mom and dad. Who are really not supposed to be here."

Angel is rolling his eyes toward the ceiling, but at least he's saving the "I told you so" moment for later. Ben, my brother, looks completely shocked, and the other Sam's face is melting.

In fact, everyone's faces seem to be shifting at random. Angel briefly flickers into Dexter, who flickers into... some random person I don't know, and Dean's not nearly as pretty as he usually is. Ben's someone completely unrecognizable, and I push through my parents into my room, waiting for the dream to stabilize.

I'm trying to figure out how to fit both a desk and a double-sized bed into my childhood bedroom when Angel walks in. He's looking somewhat normal again. At this point, we decide, we have to stay here. The Wild Hunt will tear their way through my family whether we're here or not, so we might as well stay to protect them.

I'm having a shower when, through the window, I see a group of my brother's friends running over the lawn. Apparently I'm in the basement. I run outside, fully clothed, and look back at the building I was just in. It's an approximation of my parents' duplex, though it's currently worn down and the entire back yard is yellow and covered in weeds and vines.

I spot the group running through the back yard and I give chase, catching up and tackling the one that's supposed to be Ben. I pin him to the ground, yelling that this is a dream, and the rest of the group stands to the side, eerily still.

"Could you give us a minute?" I say, hauling my brother to his feet. "I have some questions for my brother."

I'm pretty sure this DC isn't my brother, but rather an impostor sent by Mab.

And apparently I was right, because a second later, the group of teenagers shift into unearthly horsemen and hellhounds. Mab herself appears from nowhere, wearing red and riding a horse that just might be an animated skeleton.

Mab demands my surrender. I decline.

Half a dozen faeries rush me at once. I hit the first two with a rush of pure kinetic energy, liquefying their organs and taking them out of the fight. I disarm number three and stab him in the gut with his own green dagger, letting the body drop to the ground as I pull the weapon free and look to my next opponent.

And I see, again, a trail of bright blue energy following my movements, latching onto the Fae and pulling their energy toward me. One of the fairies' power is surprisingly in tune with my own, and I hear a voice telling me to use it.

At first, I think it means the dagger, but as I focus on the energy I'd just absorbed, I realize that this isn't the power of a foot soldier. This is bigger, and I feel myself drop away from the dream, ascending higher and higher until I can see all of the stars and the Queen of the Wild Hunt is just a speck I can only barely see, and I suddenly understand why she thinks so little of those around her, because everything is so small...

When I come to awareness, Angel is next to my bed.

I groan, shielding my eyes from the light pouring in the window. "Some help you were." I grumble.

He snorts. "While you and Mab were unconscious, most of the Fae just wanted to chop off your head and be done with it. I had a hell of a time getting you out of there alive."

"I woulda been fine."

"Right." He looks dubious. "And the Dreaming?"

I look up, pulling myself into a sitting position. "This is a dream, that was a dream." I sigh, "When I wake up, I'll be reality checking all day."

The Hunt. Scare Factor: 3.5. Low-level lucidity[/QUOTE]

I'm having multiple writing-things-down-in-my-journal dreams (in one night), which is really annoying when I actually wake up and find it blank. Occasionally I can remember bits and pieces of what I wrote, but still: irritating. Apparently I'm going to have to RC more while I'm journalling.

In one of my fragments, Neil Gaiman was trying to take over the world. Apparently he's on Time Magazine's Most Influential People list, so this wouldn't be too surprising. Oh, and he's capable of adding to historical mythology.

Be afraid.

The Heist:

I'm robbing an art gallery. This is the easy part, casing the place, looking for details that might assist us in our escape. It's near closing time, and we need to know exactly how the staff shuts the place down - so we're posing as tourists, waiting to be shuffled out of the building.

The place is huge, large enough to have their own conservator on staff, a woman that I'm talking to right now. I'm pretending to be a collector, probably talking about donating a piece to the public collection. We're discussing the minutiae of restoring a particular piece, a thirteenth-century painting that I actually have no interest in (ie: we're not stealing it).

"Where are the security cameras?" I ask her. After all, I want my donation to be safe. I've spotted one camera in the entrance lobby, but none in the main areas or at the employee exits.

"Oh," says the woman, "We don't have any."

I look at her blankly for a second. "Well," I say, "That's stupid."

I look over the woman's shoulder at Johanna, the blonde ghost girl from #59, Ghost Ship. My accomplice is decidedly un-ghostly today. She's with a tour group, examining the high-tech vault that our prize is locked in. The metallic display swivels around, forms a coffin-like shape, and seals itself away, fitting like a puzzle into the tile floor. The rest of the group applauds enthusiastically, but Jo limits herself to a small smile, eyes glittering with anticipation of the challenge.


Jayne Wisener Johanna

I signal Johanna and say goodbye to the conservator. We shake hands and she tells me to contact her if I have any questions. I assure her that I will, and I slip away into the back hallways of the art gallery, off limits to the public.

Jo meets me at our planned escape route, one of the employee exits that requires a code to leave without setting off the alarm. I notice the visible red laser line over the floor, which could be stepped over easily, but the door is alarmed as well. I hear a voice over the intercom, saying that the museum will be closing in a few minutes.

There's a keypad beside me. I enter the code, which I gleaned from the mind of the conservator when I shook her hand. This is why Jo and I work together well: I get the information and she steals the priceless artifact. We split the danger and the cut. And I do my job well - the outer door swings open, and the alarm switches off.

"All guests have two minutes to exit the building," says the intercom. Jo and I grin at each other and step out into the alley. We pile into a small green car with a few other girls. This was our test run. We'll come back tomorrow night and pull the real heist.

We've stopped at a hostel/diner/convenience store. While waiting in line, I'm looking through the racks for a pair of sunglasses that don't make me look like a girl. Everything's sold out though, and apparently I already bought the last pair of sunglasses, which are either broken or missing.

DCs have been telling me, for the last few minutes, that I'm late for the Evil Meeting of Evil. This is, apparently, not a good thing, as the meeting is headed by one of the organization's scariest members. I remember being appropriately terrified earlier in the dream, but now, semi-aware, I can't see why I should be afraid of a DC. When I step outside, I see minions of the League on rows of fold out chairs, under a bright blue sky. Odd.

The terrifying speaker is a black woman with straight, shoulder length black hair, who bears a remarkable similarity to Zoe from Firefly. This, of course, means she's a badass character who I should probably Run Away From Really Fast, but instead I pretty much ignore her as she yells at me and tells me to sit down.

Not!Zoe continues her pep-talk, and I wander back into the building, finding myself in a hostel-style dorm room filled with bunk beds.

The first person I notice is a Legion-style, long-limbed teenager. I'm fascinated by how tall he is, and by the way he's swinging from what are effectively monkey-bars suspended by the bunk-beds. Apparently, the boy can't support his own weight. He stumbles into the diner/convenience store area, and his mom snaps at me not to stare.


What are you looking at?

I turn around, and suddenly there's a high speed bundle of white lace crashing into my arms. I catch the little girl as she throws her arms around me, demanding a hug from a complete stranger. I stand there awkwardly, regaining my balance.

The mom rolls her eyes when I look at her, and tells me that the girl used to suffer extreme pain when anyone touched her. Now she's cured. Okay...

I leave the strange family behind and go back outside to deal with my fellow villains. Who want me to become Doctor Insano. I tell them that I really would (I have my lab coat on and everything), but I can't find my swirly goggles - I only have a set of pink ski goggles, and those just aren't the same.


So yeah.

Johanna and I are back in the art gallery, along with another girl, Macy, who's actually outside. Macy was with us in the getaway car, and she's possessing her pet cat (her spirit animal) so we can have another set of eyes on the inside. The cat is darting through the gallery's hidden places, under tables and behind exhibits, practically invisible unless you know what you're looking for. Jo and I are about to split up, while I keep the entrances clear, when we're interrupted by the most ominous sound I have ever heard.

"KITTY!" shrieks a delighted, childlike voice. This is followed by a chilling snarl from Macy's cat.

I turn around to see that the cat is a charred pile of fur and skin on the floor, and the little girl from before looks absolutely stricken. I look upward and sigh, knowing that we won't have a chance at the painting at this point.

I'm waving at the little body, willing it up from the floor, and slowly toward the side door. At the same time, Jo and I are having a heated discussion over who gets to take care of the girl without making a scene. More so than the fireball and the crying child already have, anyway.

"Me?" I ask incredulously, "I'm not a Meta!" (I don't have superpowers.)

Jo sends a significant glance at the cat magically floating out the door, and looks back at me with a raised eyebrow.

Well, I can't argue with that.

I go over to the little girl and ask if she remembers me. She nods her head and I hold out my hand, and we all go outside.

Jo is over with Macy, who's a sobbing wreck on the ground, leaning against one of the tires of the car. She's looking at her cat, lying on the dirt a few feet away from her. Apparently, her experience was slightly traumatizing.

I lead the girl over to the cat, and kneel down beside it. I give a heartwarming speech involving the importance of responsibility and compassion, and tell her how important it is that we keep our powers under control. Then, waving a hand over the cat, I tug at it's life energy, and the cat gets up and wanders over to Macy.

"There," I say, getting up and dusting myself off. "No harm done."

An alarm starts to blare from within the gallery.

"Son of a bitch!"

All of us pile into the backseat of the car, which is suddenly filled with half a dozen girls, and we speed away.

The Heist. Scare Factor: 3.

I'm river rafting with a group on the backs of whales/fish/squid/leeches. The creatures swim down the river with one side of their bodies facing up, which turns from pink to silver in the sunlight. They turn over after a while, so we have to stay on top of them.

My creature is about to turn over, so I jump onto the shore and let it. I throw one smaller creature back into the river where it got caught somewhere. I watch a kid's creature turn over and throw him into the water. He comes up on the other side, laughing.

I'm back in the water, swimming on my own. I'm wearing running shoes, which really limits my swimming ability. We'll be hiking later though, so I can't go barefoot.

An enemy is on the shore, aiming something at our group. I'm swimming through fairly deep water, but I jump up and land a flying kick on the henchmen, knocking the gadget aside. There's another one farther into the forest, and I rush at him -

shift

I'm driving through one of the main intersections in Quickton. The stoplights facing me are blinking orange, the adjacent stoplights are blinking red. I drive through the intersection, thinking about the DC I'm trying to help / is helping me.

I'm biking down one of the pathways near my house. I wonder how I'm going to meet up with her again. On impulse, I pull out a blaster and shoot two Star Wars-esque red laser blasts into the sky. I consider that we should have used that as a signal. I shoot a couple more just to see what the range of visibility is.

The signal starts coming up elsewhere in the city. Sirens go off. Uh oh. I stow my blaster under my jacket (it's too long to sling across my back; the barrel pokes up under my collar) and quickly pedal home. I do have to wonder how video game characters manage this.

I end up in an oh so messed up version of my backyard. I'm setting my bike against a fence and am about to haul it over into my half of the back yard (it's a duplex), when, for no apparent reason, I realize that I'm dreaming.

I don't see a reason not to leave the bike where it is. I decide to play along with the dream and get rid of the gun, so I walk into the garden shed and hold the blaster up along the wooden wall. The wall folds out and clamps onto the gun, and when it folds back you wouldn't even know that we were stockpiling an armory. Then I stare at the inside of the shed for a moment, marvelling at the detail and how real this all seems. I can feel my body, the scratch of the jean jacket I'm wearing, my feet on the ground.

I shake myself out of it. I had plans for a lucid, right? I was going to... meet Walms. Right. Now, how am I supposed to get there?

Stepping out into the bright sunlight, I extend my right hand, intent on peeling through the layers of the dream. Something goes wrong; I can't feel them.

"What are you doing?"

There's a guy my age standing on the lawn in the back yard. Short blond-ish hair. Let's call him Derek (I haven't used that name yet, have I?). He doesn't look much different than I do in dreams. Similar clothing, too.

"You know what?" He says, when I don't answer, "I don't care. See ya."

Derek jumps through a hole in the lawn. It's shimmery, like a puddle, but it doesn't reflect the blue sky above. It reflects a different sky with a setting or rising sun, shot through with pink.

I jump through the puddle.

I hit sand on the other side, startling Derek. "Um, hi." I say.

"I wasn't expecting you to follow me," he admits.

"Yeah, well..." I look around, taking in the view. We're standing on a beach, looking out over a sunset. "Huh. I think I have a [desktop wallpaper] like this."



We spot another puddle in the sand. "You coming?" he asks me.

I nod.

We jump. The other side is more blue-tinged. It's still sandy, but everything is underwater.

"So, you've gotta be looking for something, right?"

I try to answer, but the words come out garbled.

Derek rolls his eyes. "You know this is a dream, right? You wouldn't have been able to follow me otherwise. You can still talk."

I take a breath, feel cool air enter my lungs. Breathe out, breathe in. I try again. "I'm looking for a guy who calls himself 'Walms'".

Derek looks at me, incredulous. "You don't even know where you're meeting him? Jesus. I could take you to a place, but I don't think I can help you find someone you don't even know."

False awakening. I feel the dream fall apart around me, and become aware of my body lying on the bed. There is bright white light everywhere, and I can still feel the remnants of the previous dream around me.

I fade back into the dream. I'm back in the dream-warped backyard, sitting on the lawn. Derek is standing beside me. I swear, if he rolls his eyes any more, they'll stick like that. I go over where I left my bike and lift it over the fence. Derek says something.

[I]Puddles. Scare Factor: 2. Reaction: Okay, Mr. Negativity.

We're driving down the highway in a tan-coloured Oldsmobile. The driver seems to think the speed limit is optional, which really wouldn't bother me, only he doesn't actually have his license yet. Also, he doesn't seem to be in control of the vehicle, if the wildly oscillating steering wheel is anything to go by.

"Whoa! Whoa!" I shout from the backseat. "Oncoming train, ONCOMING TRAIN!"

"Ben, stop," says my mom from the passenger seat.

Ben reluctantly brings the car to a stop before we get to the train tracks. I breathe out a sigh of relief and glare at my brother.

"You know," says the fifteen-year-old comfortably, "Sam could totally supervise my driving -"

"NO!" My mom and I say simultaneously.

Ben slouches in his seat and gets the car moving again, now that the train's past. The car gradually speeds up, and he throws my mom a look that reads See? I can totally drive without giving Sam a heart attack.

A copse of trees blocks the road a little bit farther along. It's night. We need to hike through the trees in order to get to the road on the other side.

We're not a few steps in before I can feel a tingling feeling up my spine. I sense a malicious intent, which lingers, as if the blood that's been spilled here has never properly washed away.

"We should hurry," I say quietly. "This isn't a good place." I should know, this is my dream after all. Vaguely, I wonder if this is going to turn into a nightmare. If it is, am I sensing evil, or creating it?

There are men sleeping, haphazardly strewn over the grass-covered ground in various garishly coloured sleeping bags. I hurry Mom and Ben along, out of the campsite through a path in the bushes. I know it the moment the men wake up.

"Go! Go! I'll meet you at the car!" I shout at my family. Somewhere between eight and a dozen men come rushing onto the path, heedless of my attempts to block them. I can't move, I can't shout, I'm completely helpless -

"KIYA!" I lace a high-pitched shout with all of my fear and anger, forcing the men's attention onto me. I move out into the middle of the clearing, still pulling their attention, focusing on the present rather than the danger that faces the others. I need to be able to move.

"KIYA!" I shout in challenge, feeling ridiculous, catching a third-person view of myself as Eliza Dushku.

A man runs at me, using his momentum - and considerable bulk - to ready a skull-crushing punch. I sidestep. He misses. I use his momentum against him, throwing him out of the way.

It's on.

Another man rushes me. I catch him by the arm, twist, breaking it. I throw him over my shoulder and he crashes to the ground, where I aim a kick at his neck, killing him instantly.

Two come at me. I send one stumbling with a kick to the solar-plexus. He trips over the corpse and I disable the other one with a ridge-hand strike to the throat, crushing the windpipe. He collapses to the ground, gasping for air, and I'm already rushing a stunned thug, sweeping his legs out from under him. I pound three high-powered kicks into his left temple before he can blink.

A thug is picking himself up from beside his friend's corpse, looking enraged. I'm behind another one, hand across jaw, and I pull, breaking his neck. I don't see Trippy until he has a hand around my throat, lifting me until my toes barely brush over the ground. I twist, tearing - tiger claw - rigid fingers across his face, ripping into flesh. His grip slackens and I turn around to meet another attack, evading arms and deftly clawing an eye out of its socket. He's out of the fight.

One of the smarter ones is readying an incantation - I'm in front of him. I grab, twist, tear his arm off, leave him to bleed out.

Another. I aim a kick for his groin, surprised when I hit the inner thigh. Hard. Time slows for the others, and I admonish myself for losing focus. Concentrate on the dream. I pull my leg in, I lash out with a side-kick to the groin. He's down. I smash his head in.

I hear a dark chuckle from across the clearing. Trippy is struggling to his feet, one hand pressed against his bleeding face. He laughs. I want to know what's so funny.

"You think we're monsters." He laughs again, eyes closed for a moment.

He's down before he knew what hit him. I kick him repeatedly, into the gut, into the side of his head, until he's nothing but a mangled corpse leering at me with a dead grin.

I put down the others with brutal efficiency.

I meet Ben and Mom at the car, which happens to be a Chevy Impala. Not meeting their eyes, I mention that we're going to have to wipe down the car, inside and outside. Apparently it was used to run over people while I wasn't looking. I'll have to dispose of these clothes, too. They're black, so I can't see the blood-spatter, but I just murdered a bunch of unarmed humanoids, and there was blood spraying everywhere, so -

"I'll clean the car," says my brother.

I take a deep breath. "Yeah. We should go."

---

Some time later, I meet up with an alternate version of my mom, driving the Oldsmobile. We talk about the forest/campground, but she isn't entirely sure what I'm talking about. In her world, we kept driving right past the damned place.

I get to thinking about alternate endings...

---

They have Ben. My mom has disappeared, but they have Ben and he's a prisoner of these things and I couldn't do anything to stop it.

There's a young boy, maybe ten, being carried from some kind of ceremony, half naked. I have a bad feeling about this.

I take a breath, calm my mind. I can stay out of sight for now, wait for an opportunity to rescue him. I'm practically incorporeal right now; it's not like I could do much anyway. Although, I think, as I watch them drag my struggling brother out of sight, waiting could be easier said than done.

---

Colourful round wooden tables are interspersed throughout the clearing. I couldn't see the place before I followed Ben in. My brother is sitting at one of the tables, eating the same grilled cheese sandwiches as all the other humans. On his left is the vampire he's been bound to, and on his right, a human slave, eying the former nervously.

I get a bit of insight from the slave, who, apparently, was a member of the local Resistance before he was captured. He still hasn't quite lost the suicidal tendencies.

"You realize," he says to Ben, keeping his voice low so the vampire won't notice, "That these things are just using you, right? We need to fight them."

Ben snorts. "You're just saying that because they're planning to eat you."

Apparently they keep humans as cattle. Charming.

Also, Ben's been brainwashed. This could be a problem.

---

I'm watching the loading area, a gravel parking lot leading into the back doors of the complex. An Oldsmobile drives in. I move closer.

A group of three or four slaves is conversing with the driver. One of them was talking to Ben earlier. Kel, I think his name was. I recognize the leader of the group: Damon. Fanatic.

"What do you want with the Aur'i, Reader?" Damon asks, as my mom steps out of the car.

"Your masters have taken one of our own." Mom tells them coldly. "We want him back."

Fuck me. Readers' powers are the opposite of my own, divine while mine are hell-powered, and they're positively toxic to the Aur'i (vampires). They're more of an allergy, for me.

"The boy, yes?" says Damon, "What of the girl?"

Ah, the Dushku persona.

"Not one of ours," Mom says, "She didn't violate the Accords by attacking you."

"A pity," says Damon. "I'll pass along your message to our Masters. You may leave now."

Ignoring the slight, Mom tips her head and goes back to the car.

Damn it. I've got to get her a message before she leaves. I take off along the side of the complex.

---

"Sokka Katara Sam!" Ben gasps, clutching his head. I hear him, glad that he's finally broken through the mind control.

Lay low.

---

I break out into a full-on sprint, moving as quickly as I can around the back corner of the loading bay. When I stop, I hardly even notice that I'm not out of breath. I wave my arms at my mom, staying carefully out of the slaves' sight.

I gesture towards some scaffolding near my hiding spot, which should be hidden from any observers. My mom exits the car and heads toward the spot I indicated, and I slink along more carefully, hidden by the various construction materials along the way.

"You had to choose this spot?" asks my mom, visibly shivering.

I'm surprised, but I look more closely at the wall. There's warding magic emanating from it.

I smile sheepishly. "I can't feel it like you do." I tell her, "My power meshes with the place."

"We'll talk about it later." She pulls an iron chain out and throws one end to me.

I catch it. It feels like ice-water is crawling over my skin.

Covered by the protection of the chain, I explain the situation, highlighting the layout of the compound and detailing Ben's chain to the Aur'i. I'm so caught up in the story that I don't notice the patrolling slaves have noticed us. Noticed the chain, rather, since we're invisible.

"That is a forbidden magic here," says Damon, indicating the iron chain.

"Is it?" I ask, adopting a really bad light Jamaican accent. "It is looped through this equipment like a spider's web."

"The reader," hisses Damon.

"You're Nomad?" asks Kel, indicating a nationality.

I glance back at Mom, but she's disappeared along with the car. Good.

I have an image of dark skin and bright colours. I take the appearance of the girl in my mind's eye and let the chain fall from my hand.

I can work with this.

I Am Legend. Scare Factor: 5.[/QUOTE]