Living in Reality
Chapter One: Expected

She didn't blink, only stared straight ahead. How could everything have been a dream? It couldn't be –she had been awake! She saw Kurama die; and Yami, Hikari, and Situk were gone too! So, how could it be that Kurama was now standing in front of her, looking concerned?

This couldn't be true –how was everything a dream?

"Botan, are you okay?" Koenma's voice snapped her from her daze, and she looked at him blankly. Was she okay? Of course not –she didn't know what was a dream and what was reality! But, then again she was, because no one had died –she didn't lose anyone.

She looked over to the boys again. Yusuke, Kuwabara, Hiei, and Kurama all looked back at her. She shook her head once and put on a bright smile.

"Of course, sir; I'm fine! It was just a silly dream that I had, that's all." And she continued to smile even though she still couldn't believe it. "Koenma Sir; what do you know about Dragons?"

Koenma had seemed shocked that she had even known that Dragons existed –as did everyone else. Of course, they seemed shocked just because she had freaked out upon seeing Kurama –so, she put that behind her. She needed to know if Dragons still existed here –if there were others, that is. She could still use her powers, though they were rusty, so Dragons existed –but were the others?

And that was why she was currently in the main computer room without permission, looking up information about Dragons.

It was the middle of the night in Reikai; everyone else was asleep. She had also scrounged up her magic and made the entire room pitch black to anyone but her, even though the computer screen lit up half the room.

The tapping of her fingers on the keys echoed in the large room, but she researched as much as she could. She searched 'Dragons' in the main stream, and clicked on the first source.

It was there that she found out there were more dragons than she could have imagined. She had only met a few in her dream –but there were so many more.

Everyone she had met in the dream was still alive –still part of the story. They just didn't know her in this reality. She had never met Milanos, or Situk, or Yami –or anyone else. But they were still alive. She let out a breath of relief.

But there were others –Dragon of Storm, Dragon of Tempest, and –this one caught her eye –Dragons of Reality. She clicked on the name to hopefully get more information.

Apparently, they were twin dragons –completely opposite of each other. They were compared to the Fates, only Dragon-style. They were still alive, and they lived on top of a mountain somewhere in Reikai.

Well that didn't help.

Botan could spot a lead easily –she knew that these Dragons could help her. She just needed to find them somehow. There were hundreds of mountains in Reikai –which one was it?!

The hours continued to move on as she continued her research, gaining more and more information as she went. Myths said that they lived at the source of the river Styx. Others said that they weren't even on this planet. Still others said that they lived at the top of the highest mountain in Reikai. Botan gave up her search around 6 a.m.

She stretched out onto her bed, thoughts whirling. She could try to take the day off and fly around Reikai –to the source of the Styx. She sighed, closing her eyes. Maybe in a few hours…

She woke up later with a note beside her bed from Koenma saying to take the rest of the day off. He must've come in and seen her fast asleep… She looked towards the window. Better now than never. She began to prepare herself for the trip upstream.

She packed a light backpack of food and other essentials for the flight. She figured that she'd be back here by evening –it shouldn't take very long, especially if there was nothing there in the first place. She was hoping that there was, but also expected that she would find nothing. It terrified her to think that she would never get answers. She brushed the thought off quickly.

Botan stood in her window, looking at the ground far below her. This was going to be fun, she smiled. The wind blew through her hair softly, calling her to join it in its flight. She listened.

She jumped, stretching her arms out and reveling in the feeling of the air slapping her face. She was freefalling and enjoying every moment of it. She felt free and powerful and graceful –it was a beautiful moment.

Before she hit the ground, she called out her wings and began flying quickly upstream. She flew for hours, not resting or stopping. It was close to evening when she finally saw the mountains that lead to the source of the river.

She flew around for a while, just trying to sense if there were any Dragons nearby. As she flew through the line of mountains, a large gust of wind caught her off guard. She tried to right herself, but couldn't manage to do so –she was going to crash! Botan clenched her eyes shut and readied herself for the pain of crashing into a mountain.

It was much different than what she expected…

She crashed into something, yes; but then she slid on slick floors. Instead of hitting ground and a few trees and more ground, she was lying on a floor, inside what seemed to be a hidden fortress of some sort.

Opening her eyes, she realized that she was in a room and that she could sense two Dragons very close-by. The wind must've swept her into this place…

She wandered around the well-built establishment, slowly focusing more on the Dragons she could now sense. There were mirrors everywhere, but they didn't reflect the room –they reflected completely different places. She turned a corner only to see two people sitting in chairs, staring right at her.

"Hello, Botan."

"We've been expecting you."

Wow... I'm sorry that it's been over a year, and I'm sorry that you get such a short chapter to make up for it... I'll try to update this more often...

Sorry again

Jess-chan