Reunion: Dreams

By Anya

Chapter 1: Emm

A/N: Hey guys, just another story that I have been thinking about. I am hoping if I get this out, maybe Is It Worth It will come to me! By the way, there will be more Reunion installments to come!

No Ownage Here

xxx… Tell me that I won't feel a thing, Give me Novocain …xxx

She fought her way to the bus, her faded blue jeans the same as everyone else's. She was the same as everyone else, no different. Her life was just a life, go to work, go home, make dinner, clean up, and go to sleep. It was comforting to be so punctual, but not exciting. Life had lost its excitement years ago.

The bus seat was uncomfortable, as usual. She sat hesitantly, watching the people around her. How could no one else see how distant everyone was? How could no one understand that everyone was miserable? Wherever she looked, people sat, watching the floor, their eyes so lost and forlorn they were unbearable to see. Society was so alone nowadays. Even with all the technology, the cell phones, the internet, no one really talked anymore.

Everything around her was dull. Life was dull. Colors that were once vibrant and beautiful were expressionless and lifeless.

She missed… she missed her dreams. Dreams of castles, and dragons, and oceans and princes. Dreams of faraway places and friends and family. Dreams of what could have been a beautiful reality. A reality no one deserved.

"Excuse me Miss, my Grandpa needs somewhere to sit, and the bus is full. His legs bother him." She looked down to find a tiny little girl, with golden hair and bright blue eyes. She looked happy, and excited. As though the world around her was a mysterious place. She looked the way people should look.

"Oh don't bother the lady Emm. You know I am fine." An older man scolded her, a laughing glint in his eyes. He looked content. He looked as though life was okay. She was mystified. Both the girl, Emm, and her Grandpa looked like life was an adventure.

"But she looks nice Grandpa, I'm sure she wouldn't mind." Emm said sincerely.

The woman's eyes misted lightly as she watched the tiny girl in her purple dress. Emm could not see the bad in people could she?

"It's not a problem. I would have moved earlier, but I didn't see you there. Please sir, take my seat." The woman invited warmly, trying to put as much happiness into her face and tone as they naturally had.

The man sat, and immediately Emm crawled into his lap. The woman smiled at her.

"She's beautiful." The words unconsciously slipped out of her mouth and she felt herself blush. No one spoke their mind so openly these days. The grandpa beamed.

"Isn't she though? Her parents died, and yet she doesn't see the world as a bitter place. Children are marvelous, are they not?" He asked.

The woman nodded, her thoughts already far away. How could one little girl whose life had been filled with death and suffering, not by cynical? How could she love a life so hurtful and plain?

And as she watched the little girl, the woman came to a decision. It was a decision that would change her life, ruin it perhaps. But it was what she had always wanted more than anything in her life, and yet had never done.

She leaned over and pulled the string to stop the bus.

"Thank you Emm. And Emm's Grandpa. You just changed my life." The woman informed them.

The bus pulled slowly to a stop and the woman left the Grandpa and child staring bewildered after her.

Atlanta Hesper was going to go see the ocean.

xxx… And one day I will leave my house, and embrace my home …xxx

Atlanta exited the airport, deciding she would walk to wherever she wanted to go. What did she want to do, now that she was here, in New Olympia, only a half hour away from the ocean? New Olympia was a fair sized city, but not overly busy. Nothing like the Philadelphia she was used to.

So she found a sidewalk, and she walked. She just kept going. Eventually she found herself a drug store where she bought the same hair dye she had once used. As soon as she got a sink, Atlanta was going to revive her dull reddish-brown hair. When she was done, it would be fire hydrant red once again.

Atlanta soon found a Wal Mart. She entered hesitantly, remembering that all the money she had on her was what she had brought from her small apartment in Philadelphia. She bought a back-pack, sleeping bag and food. She grabbed herself a pair of sweats and an extra shirt. After she had the necessities, Atlanta paid for them. She entered the bathroom, only to come out with bright red hair and different set of clothes than she had started with.

The change was tangible. Her hair was brighter, her skin less pale and sallow, her clothes less…perfect. She looked like a human being. And she looked excited.

Atlanta left the Wal Mart, noticing the glances people sent her way. To them, she was strange and weird. Maybe she needed mental help. But for Atlanta, this was the happiest she'd been in years. The most excited she'd been since… well since she had lost her parents.

When Atlanta had turned sixteen, her parents had gone on a trip to New York to buy her a present, only to be involved in a mass accident. They had died on the scene. Atlanta had been orphaned, and she had no other family.

So she had gotten herself a job, rented an apartment and continued going to school. As soon as she hit eighteen, Atlanta had received her trust fund. And with that money, she had gone to University and achieved her teacher degree. That day she quit her job, moved out of her apartment and bought herself a small trailer. Almost instantly she was snatched up by a small school to be the gym teacher.

It had been tough, and Atlanta had hated every minute of it. But the thought of maybe finding the happiness she once had had driven her on. It had been worse than any drug to Atlanta. For six consecutive years, Atlanta had only gotten at most three hours of sleep. And she had still passed with honors.

But that had not been enough for Atlanta. She had the start of a life, a good life. And yet, she was not happy. She did not feel love circling her as she had with her parents. She did not receive hugs for no reason. She did not wake from a bad dream only to feel foolish because she was safe.

Atlanta did not feel like she had a home. So when the whim had hit her to leave her life, and go see the ocean, she succumbed. She had never seen the ocean, even though she had lived right beside it her entire life. She had always been too busy.

But now, Atlanta had nothing to tie her down. She had everything she needed to live for a week or two on her back. And she still had enough money for clothes and food for a few months at least. And when the time came to return to a job and a house, if Atlanta had not found what she was looking for, she would return. She would believe that this was all life held in store for her and she would never miss another day of work.

But until then, Atlanta was determined to find something other than just punctual life. She wanted to feel safe, she wanted adventure, she wanted stability, she wanted spontaneous, she wanted a home. But most of all, Atlanta just wanted to feel happy. She wanted a life that was worth living for. Not just surviving, but living.

xxx… When Your Gone, All The Colors Seem To Fade …xxx

Atlanta had been debating on sleeping the park she had come across when she had seen something that had sent a cold chill over her body. It was an old building, which looked to be abandoned. Its walls were brownstone and it had small gardens overrun by weeds.

The brownstone itself was unremarkable except for the fact that Atlanta had seen it before. It had been in every dream she had ever had since she was a little girl. They were scary dreams with monsters and a cruel man, but they were still her favorite dreams because only inside this building was she ever so carefree.

Walking hesitantly up to the building, Atlanta turned the door knob, hearing it creak open.

The interior was cleaner than she would have expected from an abandoned house, and the furniture was new. It looked as though someone stayed here often.

Atlanta ran to the living room, grinning at the exact furniture she remembered from her dreams. The only thing that was different was the collection of videos and books that lined the shelves. Atlanta dropped her backpack to the couch and slipped into the dining room that bordered the kitchen. They were the same from her memory, except that there was a small stuffed bunny sitting on the kitchen counter.

Atlanta lifted the bunny and cradled it to her chest. It was pink and worn, looking as though it had been loved. One ear was missing and the nose was gone. It had a blue ribbon around its neck attached to a small piece of cloth that said, "Sara".

"Hello Sara." Atlanta whispered. She turned to go upstairs only to see a tiny little girl, probably only seven or so staring at her. She looked amused, and a little scared.

"Umm, Hi. Miss Crazy Lady? Can I have my bunny back?" The little girl asked politely, "And also, why are you in my house?"

Atlanta nearly dropped the bunny. She quickly set the bunny at the bottom of the stairs, and backed up, not willing to scare the little girl. But the little girl grabbed her bunny, not looking frightened in the least.

"I, uhh… I thought this house was empty. I thought someone I knew lived here." Atlanta mumbled, backing slowly towards the living room to grab her backpack.

"Oh, you must mean Mr. Killes." She said, and then turning to look up the stairs she yelled, "Mr. Killes!"

"Oh no, it's okay. I will just leave. I'm going." Atlanta stuttered, about to turn and run as fast as possible out of the brownstone.

Only one thing stopped her. A man, probably taller than six feet, with vibrant purple hair. He was pale, and his nose was crooked, but other than those slight flaws, he was majestically beautiful. He looked like some Greek God under the house lights. Atlanta wished she could see him in the sun. His eyes looked grey from far away, but as he drew closer to Atlanta, she noticed they were a misty navy blue.

Though his natural appearance was almost frightening in its perfection; that was not the part that freaked out Atlanta.

She knew him. Atlanta knew this Mr. Killes on a deeper level than she knew her own soul. This man was the reason she was not married and with kids of her own. He was the reason she refused to date, to skateboard, to run.

This was the man she had once dreamt about every night. Her best friend, she had told him everything in her dreams. When her parents died, he was the only one that stuck with her. And then the day she had finished university, the dreams had stopped.

That had been the hardest blow to recover from, more so than her parents. Not because she didn't love her parents, but because when her parents had died, she had had only two choices. Survive with his support, or die without his support. She had survived. But when he had disappeared, she had no one.

The only thing different about this man in front of her, and the one in her dreams, was that the man standing in front of her looked sad and conserved. He looked calm and lonely. The man from her dreams had been hot tempered, and never patient. He had been violent to everyone, except her.

He hadn't hated the world, but he didn't really like people. He refused to trust anyone around him. He lashed out at anyone who was nice to him. Except for her. He had never hated her, never hurt her. He treated her like she was precious, and yet he refused to pamper her. According to him, she could take care of herself.

"Can I help you?" The man asked, his voice a deep baritone. Atlanta almost fell to her knees in rage and happiness right then and there. How dare he not look at her, after everything they had done together? How dare he not care at all when she cared so much?

Damn him for being so strong! For being so unfeeling! Damn him for leaving her all those years ago!

But Atlanta damned herself most of all for the fact that she knew she had never actually met this man. She damned herself in the fact that she had known him all of two seconds and was already so deeply in love with him that she couldn't speak.

She couldn't breathe. She couldn't even remember her own name. But she could remember his.

"Archie?" She whispered, her voice so full of hope and despair that it cut through the very air in front of it, slicing into the little girl with its pain. What could ever cause one person so much emotion?

And what could cause the unshakable Mr. Killes to stop writing on his clipboard long enough for the blood to drain from his already pale face, and the calm tranquil emotion to fade from his eyes, leaving only shock, hatred and love?

xxx… And when I saw you, that's when the world stopped, and life began …xxx

A/N: Chapter two is almost ready to post, so please review!