Here you go!
"Again, I'm really sorry about this misunderstanding. I swear I really didn't mean any harm," I apologize one more time to Risa when she comes back from talking to the echidna. "Did you get anything from that guy?"
"I have a name you know!" barks the red echidna.
"Crazy Mutt."
"Hey!" We lock eyes and it feels as if we're shooting flamethrowers at each other with our eyeballs. Risa steps in between us to cool down the tension.
"Knuckles, leave us be," she waves him away with a flick of her hand as if she is queen of the island. He seems to think the same thing, but he reluctantly stomps away, not breaking off our wary eye contact. Sheesh, I wonder what got up his ass. "He said he has no idea where they can be. They have a proclivity to scatter randomly."
"Oh," I mutter disappointedly. "Well thanks for your help anyway." Even if you didn't really do anything to help me.
"You should get-"
"Oh hang on a second or two," I reach into my pocket and take out my family photo. "Have you seen the young boy in this picture? He probably looks just like me by now…but a boy."
"No, I have not. Is he your twin brother?"
"Yeah. I've been looking for him for a long time now." Why am I telling her this anyway? She doesn't care. "Hey, don't I see you sometimes at the Mission Crib? Yeah, I do. You finish them a little faster than I do." Risa shrugs, coolly placing a hand on her hip, downplaying the insane amount of praise I'm dishing out.
"I just focus on finishing them. It is better than staying on this-" she stops herself short. I complete the rest of the sentence.
"-island? I don't blame you, especially with him around." Fortunately, the red echidna named Knuckles is out of earshot. "Anyway, I'll get outta your hair-" I look off to the distance to see nothing but the blue ocean and sunset. I wonder how that thing is going to work again. "See ya." Risa walks me to the edge and then sits at the bottom step of the altar to read some book. I did see her often coming out of the Mission Crib, my personal nickname for the place, and she always seemed like a business lady who had no time for fun. But she's not bad. "Okay, let's see if this thing works again."
I close my eyes and raise my head to the sky, letting the brisk, salty air whip my hair around. "Uck." I hate the smell of the ocean.
'
"Huh, I guess it worked. Didn't think I'd get lucky twice," I remark to myself as I crawl out from the tiny tunnel. Well that was all in vain, I didn't find out anything new information about those Chaos Emeralds. I should go back home-not my real one, obviously-that'll get me ready for another winter day.
I crawl under the sheets, not excited to sleep. Weird stuff happens to me whenever I fall asleep and it's creepy and freaky. But whenever I do, I don't know, I feel…stronger. I'm getting more experienced with my eye thingy with the missions that I get from Erick. If my parents could see me now, kicking ass all over the place-and Haruki too. He'd be really surprised to see me like this. I used to-"No, no, no-we're not getting nostalgic tonight," I tell myself firmly as I shut my eyes. "You're going to get good sleep, and you're going to get back to doing missions. Enough of this Chaos Emerald crap." The cars skidding in the streets and blares of the passing trucks lullaby me to blissful darkness.
The loud, dreary tone of an alarm clock wakes me up. With my hand, I slam the night table repeatedly until I finally reach the snooze button. "What…the hell?" I mumble groggily as I sit up. When my legs reach for the carpet, they dangle instead, like they used to at home home-not Tokyo. After rubbing my eyes, I slide off the bed. "This has to be a dream. I'm not really here." I glance at the toy soldier and a princess doll reposing on the carpet and the three- year old drawings on the wall. Why am I here? What am I doing? I step over the toys to get to the window to see if it's all true. I open it and stick my head out.
Less than a mile away is a castle standing tall, with a crimson flag at the top swaying in the breeze. Not too far away, rhythmic-timed thunks stomp into the ground. That's all I need to tell me that this is just another dream. "I'm up!" a young girl announces behind me. I whip my head around and see the little girl climb out of the same bed I came from. Her brother on the top of the bunk bed climbs down to greet his sister.
"Me too!" The bedroom door opens and a woman with long, chocolate colored hair stands at the doorway wearing a rose nightgown. The children pick up their gender-associated toys, eager to play with them; they smile at the thirty-five year old woman.
"Good morning, my little munchkins," she says cheerily, pushing her bangs from her eyes. "Are you ready for breakfast yet?"
"Yeah!"
"Hm, that's what I thought. Let's go-drop the toys. You know no toys at breakfast," she points two fingers at the two kids. "Put them down." Nobody in the room seems to notice me. I'm like a wallflower on prom night.
"Aww fine," both children put the toys down and then follow their mother out of the room. I follow them out after staring out the window for five more minutes. The all-too familiar cracking and creaking under my feet evokes a strong nostalgic feeling as I shuffle down the hallway. When I enter the living room, I stop to gaze wistfully at the family dining in the next room.
"I tried something new today," says their dad to everyone in the room, excluding me. "Pancakes." The two children's eyes grow two times bigger.
"Pancakes?"
"Did you use my recipe?" asks the mom kindly. She lifts the piece to her mouth and tries it. "Hmm, not too bad, but definitely not like Mama's."
"You mean Gran'ma?"
"Yup."
"It's good Dad!" compliments the young boy.
"Yeah, really!" chimes the girl, filling her mouth with the pancakes. She starts singing, "Pancakes, pancakes, pancakes, pancakes…" This is making me sick. I exit through the front door, promptly hurrying down the steps and look towards the out-of-place castle that's not so far away. "Why did I see that? Oh why did I have to see that?" The perfect life that I once had-and the life that I'm never gonna have because of my stupid dad and because of the stupid Heartless and because of stupid everyone! It makes me wanna just scream and pound my fist into the ground like a gorilla but I'm a young lady. I can't do that kind of stuff anymore, even in a dream. Suppressing my nearly-overflowing emotions, I follow the sounds of marching until I reach the drawbridge of the surreal castle. "I wonder what that sound is." I turn behind me and spot two rows of tall black figures trooping towards the bridge. As they come closer, I can make out the guns over their shoulders, their navy blue uniforms, and some of their faces-the bright sun is blinding me. An army? I don't see their king or queen anywhere. "You're not allowed to look upon the castle, prisoner!" one of the soldiers barks. Astonished, I jump, afraid of his sudden rage.
"I'm a prisoner?" I ask in disbelief.
"Shut up!" a boy barks back irritably. His voice sounds dry and parched, but familiar in some way. One of the soldiers, with the butt of his gun, jabs the prisoner in the chest, who's in between the two lines of soldiers.
"Show silent respect prisoner."
"Not to you things. You aren't even real people-guuurh!" I can't make out his face his still. The prisoner falls to his knees and holds his sides. He coughs up blood heavily, which pisses off the other soldiers.
"Shut up," one of them rudely yanks the prisoner to his feet. "Keep walking until your feet bleed." Then, for less than a second, the sun dims down and I get a look at his mind-burning profile. I gasp and drop to my feet when the sun re-blinds me. The soldiers pay me no mind and bring the prisoner into the castle. I start to run across the bridge, calling out to the prisoner, "Wait! Stop! Hold the bridge-!" After the soldiers and all-too familiar prisoner get across the bridge, it abruptly cracks in half. The two broken halves of the bridge slope downward into a deep river. Everyone but me is aloof to the broken bridge. Frantically, I try to latch onto something-anything, but it's no use. I slide like a penguin into the cold, rushing river that turns into an empty abyss of nothingness.
I wake up gasping for air. Combing through my hair agitatedly with my sweaty fingers, I begin to sob into the pillow. Everything in that dream-my brother, my mom, my dad, and me. And the prisoner-I'm sure, I'm absolutely, positively sure that it was Haruki.