Prologue: A Strange Dream
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Hayner was almost positive he was dreaming; he had that odd sensation of weightlessness, as if he were jumping out of an airplane. That and he was still in his pajamas. Yet, he was uncharacteristically aware of what was going on. Was it really a dream, or some weird out of body experience? Sleepwalking? The hell is going on? Dream or not, here he now stood in front of the long-abandoned mansion on the edge of the forest. It was the grandest place in Twilight Town, and supposedly the most haunted.
As he looked up at the old mansion in confusion, he also noticed that the once locked gates were now open. Now how in the hell… Practically everyone in Twilight Town had tried opening the iron gates, all eager to see what was inside. There were even several rumors going around town that a girl in a white dress inhabited a room on the right side. Nobody had ever actually seen her though, therefore (according to Hayner), this was a load of crap.
He was pulled from his thoughts by someone loudly yelling, "NAMINE!" Hayner froze, when he realized where the shouting came from; the mansion. Without thinking (as usual), he let his legs carry him through the grand doors of the mansion, leaving all fear (and common sense) behind.
The door gave a deafening BANG as it slammed behind the blonde, making him jump a little. Regaining his composure, Hayner observed the room, making a disgusted face and coughing as dust flew up into the air as he walked. What a dump! As he continued to examine the room, occasionally making rude remarks, he found something that caught his eye. Curious, he stepped towards a glass display case in the middle of the room. On closer inspection, Hayner saw that there was a small replica of Twilight Town. A very accurate replica at that.
"Sweeeeet~" He leaned close enough to the glass that his nose resembled that of a pig.
Another loud BANG interrupted his admiration and he could've sworn he jumped a good three feet in the air. He cursed out loud and looked up towards the source of the noise. A door on the upper level appeared to be the prime suspect as it still showed sign of movement. He hurriedly rushed up the stairs, a little peeved that he had let his 'tough guy' façade down for even a second.
In his angry rush, Hayner failed to notice the lack of floor in the room that awaited him, and he fell through, uttering a very unmanly squeal as his body collided with cold tile. Luckily, the only thing that hurt was his pride. Good thing he was alone…Or maybe not, that mystery failed to be discovered. Red faced, the blonde slowly stood up. He was now in a library; a library with a hidden room, into which he had fallen. The person, thing…whatever it was had to be somewhere around here. His assumption was correct as he heard a defeated cry from somewhere within the secret place.
He ran through the only available door and ended up in a futuristic themed room lined with monitors. There was also a mangled computer still sparking from recent abuse. Hayner smirked. Pence would go off the deep end if he saw this. Moving on, Hayner went through another already opened door ending up in spacious, empty room. He shook his head. Whoever built this place must have issues. What did they do, forget about this room altogether? Not paying much attention to the room itself, he took a determined step into the room. "SHIT!" He cursed loudly as his bare feet made contact with the surprisingly hot surface. Hayner jumped back to the door frame in shock. Why was the floor so damn hot? He heard a door slide open just beyond the door that waited a good ten feet ahead of him. He was obviously going the right way. He sure as hell wasn't going to stop because the floor was a little hot. This was serious understatement, but Hayner ignored that thought in order to coax himself to keep moving forward. He groaned as he made the first step. The floor was just as hot as his last encounter, but he made himself keep moving, his feet screaming in protest. He quickly broke out in a full out sprint, uttering small 'ows' as he made his way across.
He fell into an exhausted slump when he finally made it across. Hayner would have been perfectly content just laying there, but he remembered he was on a mission and reluctantly got up. He now found himself in a white hallway, lined with the kind of pods you'd see in a bad sci-fi movie. With this in mind, he was careful not to look into the pods, lest there be some brain-sucking monster inside. The blonde took a deep breath as he reached the end of the hallway. His gut told him that there would be something through this door. As if welcoming him inside, the door easily slid open.
Hayner couldn't help saying "Whoa!" when he saw what awaited him. Inside was something different then had ever been seen; the room was completely white, with a sort of wispy fog that made a person wonder where the walls were. Hayner didn't know how else to explain it; it looked like Heaven. There was a single pod, much bigger than the others and…
A boy with spiky blonde hair stood in front of it. "Looks like my summer vacation is…over…" Hayner got a strange nostalgic feeling as his eyes locked with a pair of blue eyes when the boy turned around.
And then he woke up.