Well, I'm back in ring, guys.

The reason is because offers open criticim, and I want to make myself a better writer because writing is a career I intend to pursue. I'm glad people like what I have put out, but want to get better than that, so here we.

This story comes out one of my favorites in anime: Vandread. It has great characters and story AND IT CONTAINS MY OTP. IF YOU DISAGREE WITH YOU ARE WRONG. Just saying.

jk

Anyway, enjoy! And if you find ANYTHING I need to improve upon, tell me. Don't be shy to tell me I suck, just also tell me how I can get better.

Dreams

Hibiki dreamed.

Hibiki dreamed plenty, actually. Being a low class citizen entailed dreaming about a better life. He used to dream of being an ace pilot for the Tarakian army, slaying Mejerian forces with the deftest of ease, using a Vanguard he had built with is own two hands. He dreamed of being healthy and happy with admirers and maybe some man to love him. And he also dreamt of his grandfather, the man who raised him, and simpler childhood days.

Now, on the Nirvana, with all that had happened, he rarely dreamed. Actually he didn't dream at all. Everything had changed so much, living with woman and fighting the Harvesters and encountering infuriating feelings that couldn't be explained. Tonight however, as he closed his eyes and laid down the simple bed in his room, he was surprised to find that a dream was visiting him.

The dream opened with him in a bed decorated with pictures of starships, a bed in a rectangular room. The pictures were of his partner flying along with…her Dread, and Jura and Meia's. There was…what he thought to be a dresser against the far wall with doors to the left and right of it. Then there was a bedside stand that had what Hibiki guessed was a lamp. Or rather what he somehow knew was a lamp. Getting up he saw a mirror to his right, and found he was much younger looking. Maybe eleven or twelve. But this was all a dream, so he dismissed it easily. There were posters along the wall, posters of Vanguards and Dreads racing through the black void of space.

Shock quickly reared its head again when the door to the right of the dresser opened and a woman appeared. She had blonde hair and was wearing a simple shirt and skirt.

"Oh, Hibiki! Dear, did I disturb you?"

There were so many questions running through Hibiki's mind at that moment. Most of them, or rather all of them, involved yelling. Who was this woman?! Where the hell was he?! But what came out of his mouth where neither of those or the many other questions that could have been asked. In fact, his answer was very simple:

"No…"

"Okay. Well, dear, there is a certain friend downstairs waiting for you. And it's rude to keep a lady waiting, you know." Then the woman, whom his gut told him was his mother but he had no idea what that meant, playfully smiled at him before walking out of the room.

Someone was here to see him?

A gut feeling arose in his heart, a feeling of absolute certainly that he knew who was down there waiting for him, that there was only one possibility as to who that visitor could be.

But why? Amidst all the absolute strangeness this dream contained, why was it that he could just accept everything so far and feel so different about who that person was? Who she had to be? How he felt a sense of excitement within him that she was here?

It was her. It was Dita there, waiting by the door, down the stairs. The door that led outside, he knew.

And everything about her gave him pause.

First, her appearance. Dita was in the same state as he, much younger looking. She looked about eleven or twelve, like him. And even from the top of the stairs he could tell that she was still taller than him. Annoyingly. Her clothes were simple, a pink…sun dress. She loved to wear that. Wait, how did he know that?

Her hair was as red and long (beautiful) as always and her eyes were still (pretty and wonderful and he could lose himself in them). But her smile. Combined with her eyes her smile shown brighter than the Tarakian sun on any day. He felt himself warm up instantly, and this was the same wonderful feeling that he kept trying to destroy whenever she looked at him and now he had no strength to do that now and he was so happy that he didn't.

"Hi, Mister Alien! Come on, sleepy head; let's go to the beach! You said you would take me, remember?" she said, hands on her hips and leaning forward a bit, her smile now playful but still radiant.

Well, that name was still there. Suddenly all those posters in his room made perfect, aggravating sense. And he did remember that promise, though to him right now the act of promising had never happened. But still he nodded his head, smiling, and saying that no, of course he hadn't forgotten, idiot. The both of them had alaugh at that, even though his teasing briefly hurt Dita. He still had no idea why this dream was happening or where it had come from, but strangely he didn't care now. Dita being here with him might be part of that, he thought. Yes, that must be it. Older thoughts originating from a education from a planet once thought home tried to deny this vehemently, that he was being week for thinking such things. This side usually won. Now it would not. No. Dita was here. Dita was here and he was happy.

They were traveling to the beach by way of his bike, a thing he had never seen before but a thing he just knew the name of and how to ride it. The bike had the colors of his partner. Obviously their spirits connected across the realm of dreams; no other explanation there.

Dita sat in the basket in front of the handle bars. Her hair flowed freely as they rode past rows of what Hibiki knew were houses. Some where small, some big, and while all of this was both new and old to him the most eye catching thing was the way Dita's hair was behaving. And he could barely catch the scent of her shampoo. Combined with the fact she whooped joyfully and wonderfully as they rode through the street, Hibiki thought this situation to be flawless.

"Thank you much for saying you would do this, Mister Alien." Dita said after they were out of the neighborhood.

He said he was happy she wanted to go.

"You know me! Always willing to have some fun. And this is a great way to repay me for all the meals mom helps me make you." she chirped.

Another constant. A tasty one too.

They rode on, talking about life. About this thing called school, how awesome the beach was going to be, about how much homework Mrs. BC tended to give them. Above all else they were carefree. There were no Harvesters, no war between men and woman, just…happiness. True happiness. Something that had eluded Hibiki, until now.

When they reached the beach the fun only escalated. Turns out that Dita had a bathing suit on under her dress and he had shorts he didn't care about getting wet. And a shirt he could just take off. And as they played in the water, splashing each other with cool saltiness, Dita's laugh ringed like a golden bell.

And for sure, it was the most beautiful sound in the world.

Night had fallen. The two of them laid face up in the sand. Hibiki listened to the waves and saw the innumerable stars in the sky, and thought that, yes, this was the most beautiful view of the stars he had ever seen. Even the views from the Nirvana couldn't compare to this. Nothing could top this view of golden pearls amidst an ocean of dark blue.

"Mr. Alien?"

"Yeah?" he answered.

"Do you still think there are aliens out there?"

God, he hoped not. Not after seeing the Harvesters. He would give everything he had to destroy them should they exist in this world. But he couldn't say those things to her…

"I don't know…" he said, half lying.

"Really? But you said before that you thought there was." She replied, surprised and now sitting up. She looked at him, perplexed and….

Hurt?

"I mean, I don't want to encounter any bad aliens." He amended.

"Oh. Well, that makes sense. I think there are for sure good aliens out there. Maybe more so than the bad ones!" Said Dita.

There was that naiveté again…

"Yeah…I hope so too." He replied.

There was silence for a moment.

"Do you remember what I told you a while ago? Why I wanted to meet good aliens?"

"No…" he said involuntarily. On the Nirvana she had never told him why she fixated on aliens, and that surprised him. Why did she like them so much? Why was she so insistent on the name "Mr. Alien?" Wow, he actually really wanted to know what that was all about.

"You really are a sleepy head…" Dita said affectionately. She continued, "I want to see good aliens because…I dreamed that someday they would come and take everyone in the world to the land of happiness. Where there is no sadness or sickness or death. Just peace and everyone having fun." As she said this Dita reached for the stars with her open hand and Hibiki actually believed, for a second, that she could grasp the night sky.

Her words swirled within him. They held and answer to something. Whatever it was he couldn't figure it out, but he knew those words were very important.

Dita lay down again and held his right hand in her left. The warmth of her grasp was pleasant, and they just lay there together, looking up at the stars in a peace that Hibiki had never felt before. Suddenly the Harvesters didn't matter anymore, the Nirvana didn't matter anymore, nothing mattered anymore. All that matter was Dita and this exact moment in time.

"…Hibiki…?"

He sharply turned to face her. She was staring at him, a serious expression upon her face.

"…Do you…lo-"

And in an instant, it was all gone.

Awake.

He was awake. The beach was gone and she was gone and the only thing there was was the darkness beneath his eyelids, and that darkness was so mocking and horrible he wanted to lash out against it. So he opened his eyes to make the darkness disappear, but there wasn't any satisfaction in that.

Because he was back in his room in the ship.

And that mocked him even more than the darkness.

He sat up slowly in his bed. Everything ached, especially his heart. It was a longing that ate at him and devoured him whole.

And part of this ache was in his hand. The hand she had been holding. It was cold, so cold, and that absence of warmth screamed in his mind as he tried to sort the feelings within him over that litany.

Feelings he could understand.

Feelings he couldn't understand.