I hope you like it. I know it took me forever. Sorry. I was kinda busy. XD. Bad excuse, I know, but what can I say? And it doesn't help that I don't really have a set plot for this. It's just kind of spilling out of my head as I type. lol. I sound crazy. Just like Ally! Only not really. ha.

Anywayz: ENJOY.

Chapter Two

I sucked in a deep breath, a foot away from the cafeteria. I could already hear the hundreds of voices all talking over each other and generally making as loud a racket as possible. Running a hand nervously through my hair, I pushed through the crowd and took a good look around. It was pretty big, with the normal high ceiling and long tables. The nerve wracking part was the people. You could almost see the walls between certain tables, and they sat by the way they dressed. On a regular, nightmare-less day, I may have actually worn something that didn't hang off me like a pillowcase, and maybe had the courage to go sit down with that almost-nice girl from French class, but not today. So I went to stand in line, pulling my wallet out of my back pocket.

I tried my hardest not to glance around every five seconds and look like I belonged. I wasn't even all that hungry. The crazy adrenalin rush from a couple of periods ago was still pounding through my veins. All because some guy's voice and name matched the one in my dreams. But like I'd said before – I'd recognize their voices anywhere.

I noticed an almost empty table near the windows and walked towards it unhurriedly. I could count on one hand the number of times I'd ever had less than ten people at my table during lunch at my old school. When I was normal. A snide, cynical part of me said. Now I was considering taking the meds if all of this turned out to be my imagination. I didn't think I could take that. I had enough problems without being too drugged to think straight.

With these unpleasant thoughts buzzing around my head, I dropped my tray onto the table louder than I had meant to. I winced when the few occupants looked up. They were the "let's do extra math homework during lunch" kinda people. Not my usual group of friends by far. I sat down the farthest from them, tugging my iPod out of my pocket and tuning the volume up all the way. Thank god I remembered to grab it by default. I never went anywhere without my supply of music.

As you may have guessed, by now I had accepted that I was not dreaming. Either I really did need to check into an asylum, or something was very wrong with the world and the people in my dreams were at my school. I sank lower into my seat, looking around aimlessly while trying to appear uninterested. Nothing really caught my eye. The one table that I had to refrain from staring at was the one that kid Jake was sitting at. It wasn't the people themselves that sparked my interest, it was the fact that though they were people who should have been deathly afraid of being seen with each other, they seemed like best friends. There were four of them; Jake, a shorter guy who could really only be described as cute, a blond that made me feel even worse about how I looked, and a dark-skinned girl who didn't seem to care that her clothes...weren't as neat as could be.

They all looked exhausted, and it seemed like the only person talking was the short guy. Seeing as he was the only other guy there – assuming I wasn't insane – I figured this was Marco, or one of the two mysterious others. I blinked and tried to imagine him as a gorilla. Like with Jake, it didn't work all that well. One of the girls was Rachel, and the other Cassie, but which was which? Rachel was the fearless one, and right now, they both just looked a little...well, dead. I knew from earlier dreams what animals they were. Rachel was a giant grizzly with claws the length of my hand, and Cassie was a fierce-looking wolf. So, maybe the blond one was Cassie – after all, she was blond – the one who...died first. I also figured that Jake probably had a thing for Cassie, and that the girls were tight. Marco was the funny one and Jake was the leader. There were two others, but I'd never heard their voices. All I'd seen of the other two was a hawk and some kind of blue deer or something. Maybe that part really was a dream.

I watched them for a couple moments more before turning back to my untouched food. I contemplated my tray a little sadly. All this insanity was costing me my appetite.

((Cassie!)) The tortured yell broke through the peaceful darkness of what had been a dreamless sleep and shoved me face-first into another nightmare. I asked myself why I couldn't just cancel the subscription. It wasn't like I'd signed up for the "creepy, gruesome, mysterious visions" club or something. But I wasn't focusing on my metaphor. My eyes were locked on the scene in front of me.

((I'm fine! I just have to demorph...)) Cassie assured the others, I frowned, wondering briefly what the hell that meant. But then I actually saw Cassie, and I wasn't thinking anymore. You know those three-legged dogs you see sometimes? Well, think of one of them, turn the stump into a bloody mess and add in a dozen or so slashes all over. How could she survive this? I looked for the monster that had done this to her and saw the same reptile thing as before. There were at least seven or so of them – oh wait, make that six, thanks to Rachel – and they were all taller than six feet, scaly and had killer blades on their knees, foreheads, elbows, wrists, and big scary claws.

I blinked, wondering if this was the dream part that came from my imagination. But then some invisible force pulled my gaze back to the others.

Closest to me was Rachel – the grizzly. Fighting back to back with her was Marco as a gorilla. I heard a high shriek and searched the ceiling for the source of the noise. There was that hawk again. For the first time, I heard his voice.

((Marco, behind you! No, don't turn that way, moron!)) With another earsplitting screech, he plummeted downwards, talons outstretched. The big dragon-thing raised its claws too late, letting out a roar of agony as the hawk's talons found its mark. He flapped away, soaring back to a height from which he could see all the battles. I looked around, suddenly remembering Cassie's wounds as though someone had switched a light on in my head. There!

I stared, feeling a lot more confused than normal. She was fine. She was still a wolf, but now the blood was gone, and her leg was still attached. How did that work? Another, more disturbing thought hit me next. How come in my usual nightmare, they died? If they had this power, why did they end up dead? There was no point pondering a question I'd never get an answer to, so I started watching the battles again.

When I saw a flash of blueish tan, my head whipped around. For some reason, however, I couldn't see past a certain point. I had the feeling that if I was actually physically there, I'd be able to see what was eluding me now, but the blue thing kept dancing just out of my line of sight. Frustrated, I looked for the hawk instead, seeing as I still didn't know his name.

((Tobias?)) Cassie's soft voice asked. I couldn't see her, but I could hear her voice perfectly. Was this some kind of dream thing?

((Jake's fine. He's taking down one of the last Hork-Bajir.))

Horky-what? And was Tobias the hawk's name? I guessed so. What the hell was a...whatever he said? Why were my dreams so damn obscure? Were they talking in some code-language? I would have screamed in frustration if the dream hadn't suddenly ended.

The total blackness returned, and for once, I wasn't grateful. My dreams were no longer the disheartening visions of death they had been up until all of a day ago. Now they were driving me crazy. I was a naturally curious kind of person, with a sense of self-preservation that could rival the best. And if you have dreams about people dying, and as soon as you may have met one of them, they stop dying in your dreams, wouldn't you want to know what the hell was going on in your life?

That's what I thought.

My alarm clock makes the loudest, most irritating sound I have ever heard in my entire life. But I was glad to hear it. It meant that I had gotten some sleep. For once. Switching it off instead of hitting the sleep button, I swung my legs out of bed. Stretching lazily, I grabbed my clothes and headed for my bathroom. Being an only child, I got certain privileges – such as my own bathroom.

After a long, hot, much-needed shower, I dared to glance in the mirror. Most days, I immediately looked away. The dark circles under my eyes, and the haunted look in my eyes themselves was usually too much to handle in the mornings. Today I looked almost, well - to use a word I didn't like that much – normal. So I took the time to actually brush my hair and make sure it hung right and to wear clothes that actually fit. By the time I was ready for school, I was actually feeling pretty good about the rest of the day that I had in front of me.

Having history first period is a pretty good way to ruin that kind of feeling. I yawned and sank as low into my seat as I could without slipping. Crossing my arms, I tried actually focusing for once. A long, long time ago, I'd gotten good grades. Hopefully, I could do it again. Hopefully.

I spent the class taking almost-good notes. It was enough to give me major writer's cramp and an intense dislike for lectures. By fourth period, I was past my lapse in laziness. I listened carefully and mentally cataloged stuff I'd need later, but that was it. After all, it was only Algebra.

"Hey," a boy's voice sounded behind me, as he tapped me on the shoulder. I froze, going through the same series of emotions I had yesterday. Another one of them. "Do you have an extra pen? Mine just ran out of ink." I nodded soundlessly, reaching into the bag beside me. Digging out the first writing utensil I found, I handed it to him over my shoulder.

"Thanks."

"No problem." Marco. I wanted to see his face so badly, to see if he matched up with the guy from Jake's table. I also wanted to ask him if he could turn into a gorilla. But from what I'd seen, apparently it was a well-guarded secret. Big enough to kill for? Maybe. At the same time, having seen those huge scaly green things-from-mars, I was burning to figure out what this was all about. There's only so much a person like me could take. Knowing pieces was worse than knowing nothing. I was dying to ask him all the questions that had been stored up in my head – even the ones that made absolutely no sense.

So when he spoke again, I had to try very, very hard to concentrate and not yell out all the questions in my head. "Are you new here? I'm pretty sure this seat was empty. Would've noticed a cute girl." If I hadn't been so entirely focused on the sound of his voice, and not the context, I would have blushed furiously.

If.

But it hit me a moment later anyway, and I stammered out a thank you while turning to face him in my seat. Having assigned us a worksheet for homework, the teacher was helping a few students in the corner of the room. We were free to talk.

Again, seeing his face, it struck me just how cute he was. Normally I would be more than a little flattered if he'd told me I was okay. But not as much when I was pretty sure I'd seen him as a giant gorilla. Curiosity kept the awkwardness at bay. He kept his dark hair long, longer than most of the guys here, and he didn't look like your average all-American boy. His skin tone was a shade or so darker than mine– leaning towards olive, and his eyes were so dark they looked black. Thinking back to what I had heard earlier, and taking into consideration my not-so-tall 5'2", he was still taller than me. Which means...I deliberated, thinking faster than normal in my rush to get out an answer in an appropriate amount of time, Rachel is the blonde. Well, never saw that coming.

He was definitely more my type than the guy that I was now sure was Jake – also taking into consideration the whole Jake/Cassie thing. And from what I knew, he knew and loved sarcasm as much as I used to. Used to. After a while it was just too hard to keep up with everyone else. The dreams-turned-visions did not help my social life.

"Yeah, I just moved here. My dad got a new job." I said, making my voice level and not too interested or quiet. He nodded sympathetically.

"I know how that feels. My dad was switching between jobs for a while." he pulled a face, and I made a quick note of the past tense. "I'm Marco." I tried not to show the confusion that raged behind my eyes. I couldn't be going crazy – wouldn't it be a little less ordinary? Not the dreams part, I mean the rest of it. The school, the conversations...

"Nice to meet you." I said after a pause. "Ally."

I love Marco. I just love him.

Tell me if anyone was OOC. I need to know that stuff.

-Dreamer