Do you ever have one of the ridiculously scary nightmares that it's almost impossible to wake up from? Well, seeing how lucky I am, I'm having one right now. Let me tell you how it's going so far:

A small girl, maybe around seven years of age stood alone in some cold, fog infested streets of a deserted town. She clutched her teddy bear to her chest as she jogged though the streets, searching, praying that someone would come and comfort her; pull her away from her problems and worries while holding her close and whisper comforting words into her ear. But no, as the hours past the child began to lose hope as tears flowed down her cheeks and her feet began to sting from running around barefoot.

"Hello?! Please, is anyone…here!?" she begged, running over to an apartment door and banging on it hopelessly.

Of course no one answered, but instead it opened slowly and eerily; letting out a bone chilling screech as it swung open. Staring with wide eyes, the young girl stepped inside, holding her teddy under her chin and telling herself to be brave. The wooden floor boards creaked and moaned from being put under sudden and unexpected weight, the sounds echoing off the concrete walls of the apartment. She gulped, taking a long breath before she spoke, her voice coming out in a whisper,

"H…hello?"

Nothing. No sign of life could be heard or seen, making the girl let out a melancholy sob. Suddenly, even before she could determine whether or not it was her imagination playing some sort of twisted trick on her, she heard it; a heart beat. Her eyes widened and her small heart skipped a beat as she looked around, her feet leading her to a door on the left side of the room. Then she heard the same heart beat again, this time getting louder and louder as she approached the door.

It sounded so clear, so strong, but it was beating far to fast to be a normal heart. Maybe it was hers…but it couldn't be…there's no way. Just to make sure the child placed her small hand over her chest…and sure enough she could feel her heart beat. It was steady, normal. Suddenly, the heart beat stopped, leaving her in the eerie silence. After an agonizing 13 seconds, a blood curdling scream filled the air, making her hand freeze in mid air as it hovered over the door knob. Immediately she slapped her hands over her ears in desperation to stop the screaming, but it never stopped…it never stopped. Only getting louder and the tattoo's returning as well.

And just like that my hellish nightmare was over. My eyes opened slowly as I sat up and rubbed the back of my neck. I wasn't surprised to feel cold sweat running down my neck and back. I wasn't hot—the only thing that lay over me was a sheet, it was the dream. As I lay in my bed I began to go over my dream and try and figure out what it means…for about the 10th time this month.

My mouth opened on its own and I let out a long yawn as I slid my legs to the side of the bed and threw the covers off of me and stood up; dragging my feet over to my dresser and opening the drawer. I pulled out a light gray shirt that had the sleeves cut off at the elbows and a V shaped collar and then a pair of black shorts that came up to the middle of my thigh. They were slightly tight, but not too baggy to interfere with my running. After that I entered my bathroom and did the regular morning routine.

As I headed down the empty and eerie(even though I have been living here for two years I still get chills from this place) hallways of the Black order showered and fully dressed(Exorcist coat included) I noticed that I was the only one awake, but that didn't surprise me. I've been and early riser ever since…that day. Sorry…but I don't really feel like going into further detail about that. Maybe some other time.

Anyway, when I entered the dinning hall, of course, I was the only one there. Well, if you don't count Jerry. He's the main Chef around here and I must say he can make some wicked spicy chilly. I smiled seeing him hunched over the kitchen window with his head resting in his arms which were crossed. His braided, light purple hair stretched across his back which rose and fell slowly, indicating he was sleeping.

"Hey, Jerry," I greeted softly, shaking his arm.

The caramel colored Indian looked up at me with drool coming out the side of his mouth. After a few seconds his brain was fully working and he finally registered that I was here. He immediately straightened his posture and whipped the drool away with the back of his hand.

"Oh, good morning, Moanna…you surprised me," he replied slowly, lifting up his sunglasses and rubbing the sleep out of his eyes.

I laughed lightly. "Well, sorry about that then." I paused when he yawned and then asked, "If you're not too tired do you think you could fix me up some breakfast?"

Jerry's eye brows rose and he instantly grinned. I knew that would wake him up….

"Sure thing, darling! What would you like? I just got a new shipment of these really rare spices from Brazil and I've been dieing to try them out! I know you don't like spicy stuff…well ever since you tried my volcano chilly, but-"

"Jerry…" I gave him an innocent smile as I raised my gloved hands up and waved them slightly. "Please, I'll just have the usual."

He frowned and lowered his head. Oh great…now he's pouting. I sighed closing my eyes and scratched my neck looking towards the large window that had a perfect view of the rising sun and clouds.

"But, I'll be happy to try something with those spices for dinner!" I insisted with a fake smile.

I know I am going to regret this….

"Oh! Really, Mo?! You'll do that for me!?" He said ecstatically, leaning over the counter and grabbing my hands.

I gulped. "S…sure thing, Jerry."

10 minutes later

As I sat alone at the dinning hall table I sighed absent mindedly while poking at the half eaten scrambled eggs with parmesan cheese mixed in. For some reason I just felt distant today, but I don't think it was an emotional issue. Maybe it was because I was letting my bizarre dream get to me. Ahhh, whatever. I need to stop letting the small stuff get to me….but maybe this isn't something small? I mean, this nightmare has been recurring for a couple of weeks now.

I stabbed a chunk of luke-warm eggs and stuffed them into my mouth chewing quickly and swallowing trying not to taste the deliciousness. I failed by smiling and taking in a long sniff of the air and exhaling through my nose from the sheer heavenly aroma. God Jerry is an excellent chef! I looked up when I noticed the red headed, eye patch wearing, goofy grinning Lavi take a seat across from me.

"Good morning, Mo-Mo," he greeted with a long yawn.

I couldn't help but to grin back at the green eyed teen. "Good morning to you too, Lavi."

He laughed slightly while rubbing his exposed eye. Then he blinked slightly giving me an odd look.

"Moanna, why are you looking at me like that?" he asked, arching his eyebrows and letting his smile grow.

I shook my head while looking down at my food and pointed my fork at him. I didn't want him to get ahead of himself. "It's because you have a dark circle under your eye. That means you're not getting enough sleep. Up all night again with the books?"

He sighed and rubbed the side of his head while closing his emerald green eye. Opening it, he reached across the table and grabbed the ruby red apple that was sitting on my tray and took a bite, chewing is slowly and looking down at his knee which was bouncing in place.

"Lavi?" I asked slowly, putting my fork down and crossing my arms leaning them against the table. I hated it when he did this…it's like he doesn't want to tell me anything.

Lavi looked at me and placed the apple onto the table in front of him. He began to spin the apple by the stem.

"Yeah, up with the books again, but that's not really the reason why I'm not getting proper sleep," he said softly, like he was talking to an injured animal. The stem broke and the apple rolled off the table hitting the floor with a 'pwump'.

My eyes closed slightly and reached over the table and placed my hand over his. Whatever is bugging him sure is taking its toll. I hate seeing anyone like this, but seeing the carefree Lavi like this is…absurd.

"You can tell me Lavi, I'm here to listen."

Lavi's brows pulled together as he looked down at our hands. Flipping mine over so the palm was facing upward, he began to trace his fingers around my palm and up and down my fingers slowly. He finally looked up at me, but continued his actions with tracing my hand with his fingers.

"I keep having this…nightmare," he said lowly, just barely above a whisper. "about you, Moanna."

My eyes widened, but quickly returned to their normal size. "Go on…," I requested, reaching my index up and touching his palm.

"Well, I can't exactly tell you everything because I don't remember most of it but, you're in the middle of this forest and everything is a blaze. You're just standing there…in the middle of the fire, looking petrified. Also, you're on your hands and knees, crying, breathing hard, and saying that it's completely your fault. I call out to you, but I suppose you can't hear me….finally, you look up, but something's wrong. You're…eyes Moanna….they were glowing white and then so were you. And that's it. That's all I can remember…," Lavi stated, hooking his index finger with mine and closing my hand inside of his.

Wow, what a dream. I know that's not the most appropriate thing to think, but that's all I could think. It doesn't seem like a nightmare to me, but I guess the fear of the dream scares the person who dreamt it. My mouth stayed shut as I stared into Lavi's single eye. My arms twitched as I tried to keep myself from reaching across the table and hugging him. Why would he have a nightmare about me? Could it mean something?

"Lavi…," I called his name like it was a delicate butterfly, and I was holding it by its breakable wings: carefully.

Before I could say anything else Reever Wenhamm, the leader of the Science Section of the Black Order, stopped at the head of our table and dropped down a stack of rather heavy looking books with a long and heavy sigh. Both Lavi and I stared at the Australian as he stretched his back. My hand felt cold and I noticed that Lavi had removed his hand from around mind and rested it against the side of his head. Even though my hand was gloved it still felt cold without his hand on top of mine…strange.

"Oh," Reever piped up, looking down at me with a lazy stare. "Chief Komui has a mission for you, Moanna. You can finish your breakfast first, but after that head straight to him; he said it's pretty urgent."

I stared at Lavi for a moment and he gave me a nod. "It's okay, Reever, I'll go now. Don't want to keep Komui waiting."

He nodded. "Right, well, can you at least help me carry some books on your way there? My back has been killing me lately…."

I stood up and dumped my tray and plate and put them in the dinning hall window next to the trash can. After that I said my goodbyes to Lavi and helped carry Reever's books up to Chief Koumi's office, but who knew a black haired Japanese teen would be there waiting also?