Author's notes: HERE IT IS, LADIES AND GENTLEMEN: THE CHAPTER I'VE BEEN WAITING SO LONG FOR. I've revised the concept for this one countless times; it was a thing to look forward to even back in the days of that fic I don't talk about anymore. This. Is. The reveal OF... Dreamer number six.

Why do I love this chapter so much? BECAUSE IT'S A WONDERFUL OPPORTUNITY TO TROLL PEOPLE.

Enjoy!

Boink, boink, boink...

Tromp, tromp, tromp...

Uh...

Ploff, ploff, ploff...

What am I doing? I'm trying to come up with an onomatopoeia for hooves sinking into sand. Ploff seems to be closest; I only did boink for giggles.

I am that bored.

There's nothing to see but sand and sky. We can't even see castle Plegia, unless that isn't a mirage in the distance. There isn't a cloud which decides to be so bold as to shade the poor saps who are dying of heat. Me? The large droplets I'm wiping off my forehead do not mean I'm uncomfortable. Or at least, if I am, I can't tell at all.

I let out a yaaawwwn. "If I were on the ground instead of on a beautiful flying horse, I would be in a lot of pain right now." This is called teasing, because Eldrad and Welsh are nearby and they have the most magnificent responses to it:

"Lucky bitch." And that was in perfect unison. I have the best friends.

I lean forward, careful not to burden Elincia's neck. "Oh? What's wroooong, boooys?" While I'm at it, I puff out my chest and bend my back forward, with the intent of showing off my assets.

I can't see Welsh flush or anything, he's not even looking. "You're just being you!" Ahh, how I do so love that pitch. Whenever he's annoyed like that, his voice goes up quite a few notches and it sounds like he's constipated.

Eldrad, on the other hand, blushes very palpably. As he turns away, he hands me his response: "Could you be a little less obnoxious?"

I grin evilly and rest my right hand on the corresponding hip. "Nah."

"Ooh!" Oh, Nowi. It's odd, the guys surprise the hell out of me, yet she doesn't really get me to jump at all. "If I had a kid, I would totally name it that!"

Dear Naga, I'm the inspiration for Nah's name. YES! Brightened considerably by this thought, I grin (in the shit-eating style). "Hiya, Nowi!"

She looks up at me and hops onto Elincia (without pissing her off, quite a feat). "Hiya, Shanzy!" She proceeds to choke me in a bear hug; to get her off, I just ruffle her hair. She promptly lets go to finger-comb it back into shape.

"So whatcha doin' with us squirts?" I give her a hug as well, a gentler one by one hell of an exponent.

Down on the ground, I hear Eldrad grumble. Something about my stupid yank accent. No decent response comes to mind, so I ignore it while Nowi pipes up. "I wanted to see if you could play with me for a bit!"

I'm so screwed. "Sure thing. Here, Eldrad, watch Elincia." Sand flies as my boots kick it up, marking my landing off of Elincia's back.

Our friendly, helpful Scot turns away the reins without hesitation. "That thing kicked me in the face, I'm not guiding it."

I turn to Welsh. "Then it's your turn. Here you go!"

He hides his hands behind his back immediately, and squawks at the highest indignant pitch he can manage: "What?! NO!" (He's in charge of hamming things up around here.)

I turn to Nowi. Maybe I'm not screwed. "Well, Nowi, if I can't get someone to watch Elincia, I'm afraid I can't play."

Her face is better at exaggerating emotions than even my own; I don't think my crestfallen puppy eyes are that good. "Aww... Can't you make them?" Thankfully, I'm good at ignoring guilt trips.

I don't even have to ignore it anyways, because I have a strategy. "I'd rather not, because then they'd be pissed at me for quite some time. Elincia doesn't like them very much."

Nowi keeps frowning for a bit, then nods, seeming to get over it. "Okay." She hops off Elincia now. "I'll just find someone else!" And then she runs off, kicking sand everywhere.

"Thank god she's gone." That was Eldrad, and his haste to let his relief out makes me wonder if manakete ears have a longer range than human ears. Either way, I climb up and swing myself back into Elincia's saddle.

"Did you actually want to play with her?" Aaaand Welsh is looking at me like I'm crazy. Truthfully, I'm not sure of my own sanity, either, but that's a long-known fact.

I raise my shoulders up, so as to make myself small. "A little bit."

His eyes widen and his eyebrows press down, making them appear to bulge. "What the hell is wrong with you?!"

I smile nervously and shrug. "I'm bored of sitting on Elincia all day, and I need to get my blood flowing." And by all day, I really do mean hours. It's been a long march.

Eldrad sighs. I bet a lot of moisture just went out through his mouth. "Yeah, that would do it..." He raises his arms up in a stretch. "It's almost dark; isn't it about time to stop soon?"

I glance around the empty landscape (Well, empty but for an aforementioned mirage to the south). "Strikes me as being dumb to camp out in the open."

Eldrad stands quietly, still surveying the horizon. Then he snaps his fingers, all "eureka" style. "I have an idea." Kicking up sand into our faces, he runs up to the front.

Welsh and I exchange two things: Glances and shrugs. "Wanna lift?"

"I wouldn't go near that thing with a ten-foot pole," he answers warily.

"Your loss. I'ma see what Eldrad's doing."

FWUMP.

Wow, that blip to the south which I thought was a mirage? Turns out it wasn't.

Trufax. Eldrad confirmed it, he's actually been here before. These are the ruins he found his overpowered shield in, so we're making camp in them. Everyone's relieved to have a roof over our head so we won't be exposed to the elements.

So naturally, all the tents are already up and people are lazing about, except those lucky few who were on mounts or just still have energy to spare.

Like me!

I've been running around camp and keeping an eye out for any sparklies that might be lying around. Nowi's already gone off into the deep end (heh) and Naga knows when she'll be back.

I should probably go bring her back, huh.

I make for the edge of camp so as to start my search, but this happens: Gregor calls me out, apparently wanting to start a conversation.

"Oy! Redhead girl. Shanzira, yes? Gregor notice to walk like delicate dancer and yet also hunch like tired farmer."

He's grossly exaggerating, but that is a bit of my gait. "What of it?"

He leans back onto nothing (yeah, he's sitting). "It seems to Gregor that Shanzira is always fearful of everyone. Perhaps there is problem?"

I dunno, is there? "I'm just really sensitive about my strong points, so I try really hard to hide any hubris unless it's an obvious joke."

"Ah." And he leans forward again, interested. "Is strategy: Shanzira lets other people think little of her so she can surprise them later. Sound strategy! Nothing more impressive than beautiful woman who can fight like demon."

Is he hitting on me? Well, no, he's not the sort of person to do that. He hands out praise and asks for nothing in return. He's actually kinda nice, now that I think about it. But sometimes it steps into the realm of creepy... like now.

I say this modestly, not sharply: "Then maybe you ought to be staring at the other girls in the camp, I'm still new to this. There are plenty of others."

Gregor's response is to grin, eyebrows raised. "Oho! Even Shanzira underestimates herself! Gregor thinks she hides her potential."

"Sure, sure." At this point I just want to get away and track down Nowi. "See you." My feet meet the stone floor at a brisk pace as I put some distance between he and I. While I'm at it, I bump into my best friend. "Oh, hey, Shio. I'm gonna go find Nowi, she ran off to look for sparklies. Wanna come with?"

Shio just yawns. "Sorry, no... I'm really tired."

I shrug. "Mmk. Sleep well." Besides, I'm using this as an opportunity to find shiny things as well, so it's her loss. So I keep a good eye out for these things.

And then I get distracted by architecture. I mean, damn, this place is impressive. It's huge. There are these really nice statues of gods-know-who, but the markings ring a bell- they belong to both the Grimleal AND the followers of Naga. I walk by a huge piece of art which seems to tell a story of the two dragons, always at war, with humans suffering in the interim.

Impressive and all that, but our army needs funds and weapons. I walk on.

I'm examining an old sword when I hear something. Something like a voice, singing.

This is not Radiant Dawn, there are no herons. However, the tune sure isn't a galdr, it's familiar... I start to hum it, lo and behold it perfectly matches.

But then the music changes- there's synthesized stuff in there, too. What?

I bolt in the direction of the song. It gets clearer, and I recognize it- it's a track from Blazblue, Nu's theme. I run into the room it's coming from and find a guy digging around in piles of sand- he's got curly red hair and he's wearing my coat. And just a few feet away sits a fucking stereo, an iPhone plugged in.

"Holy shit!"

Sorry, I was so surprised I couldn't contain it. The guy immediately stands and stares, deer-headlights like. "Oh, shit, there are other people in here?!"

I repeat myself, because this guy looks like he could be my twin: "HOLY SHIT!"

He hunches over to the stereo, hastily stammering, "it's just a-"

IMMEDIATE INTERRUPTION IN THE FORM OF A SQUEE: "SOMEONE BROUGHT A BOOM BOX TO THIS WORLD!"

He slowly stands back up, the music still playing. "So... I take it you've been living half here, too."

I nod, really interested in whoever this dude is. "Yeah, for over a month now. How the hell did you bring that thing?"

He squats back down and turns it so the back faces me, revealing thick leather straps. "I put those there so I could carry it like a backpack. Had this since high school, and I was wearing it when I first started dreaming here." He follows this up with a shrug. "So naturally, I woke up again with a bloody nose."

OH NAGA. I just imagined a nasty face plant... That had to hurt. "People must've freaked."

He nods slowly, off to the side. "Yeaaahh... My roommate wasn't happy. Anyways!" He straightens up. "We missed introductions. You are...?"

I straighten myself out, having relaxed to listen. "Name's Shanzira, at least it is in this world. Accidentally blurted that instead of my name, and given the hot water I was in, I wasn't about to correct myself. I had Frederick staring me down."

Mr. Redhead makes an o with his mouth. "Huh. How'd you pick that name?"

Pardon? "It's an OC of mine..." I shrug, slightly embarrassed. "I liked the name, so I stuck with it. What's yours?"

"Well," he murmurs, "if you're going by an alias, I'll do the same. Call me Storm, it's the name my parents nearly named me at birth."

Judging from that sly look in his eyes, this isn't coincidence. "Odd. My parents nearly chose that, too, then dad backed out because he was worried it'd be a self-fulfilling prophecy."

Storm gawks. "Who the hell ARE you?"

I know he asked that for its rhetoric value, but I give him a serious answer. First, I clear my throat, then I give him crisp diction so he won't ask me to clarify: "A student of game design art in a somewhat obscure college in California, who really loves to draw and was attracted by the sound of Blazblue."

He blinks. "You just described me to a tee, but replaced music with art.

There's only one explanation for this. "Alternate universes, huh." I don't think we need to compare the other details of our lives; the odds of two people being so alike, even down to appearance, is pretty much nil... If they originate in the same universe. But with alternate timelines and stuff, it becomes far more probable, if not guaranteed.

He comes to the same conclusion as me, as he nods in apparent comprehension. "So you're from a world where I'm a girl."

I try to ignore where his eyes are drifting (a little too far south of my face) and try to distract him with my voice. "Suppose so. Anyways, whatcha checking out in here?"

"Uh," he stammers, caught in the act. "Was looking for spoils. I found a few weapons, over there-" he points to the far end of the chamber, where some nice shiny pointy things are enshrined- "but I'm pretty certain blah blah trap bluh-blah blah."

"That would be so cliched," I murmur, trying to appear focused. That coat looks really nice with those jeans, and that face, it's so smooth, very well-shaven, with the shiniest brown eyes. And those boots... They're definitely not the girly ones I have, but look like boots one would actually wear in medieval days, and they're still sexy.

Actually, that last word describes this guy in general, particularly his legs. I mean, damn.

"Blah blih blah fucking story. Blah, blah, blablah bluh-blah bluh trip it anyways."

Wait what the hell is he doing?! STOPPIT YOU IDIOT-

He stumbles as a tile sinks in, a shiny orb on the wall way in the distance glows purple, and Risen appear all around us. All revenants and entombed. Well, downside is we're surrounded; upside is if we survive, we walk away with serious experience points.

"Well fuck." That was him, not me. "All revenants and entombed. I'm at a low level, you?" He's standing at my back– oh dear Naga we're doing the back-to-back badasses thing. I pull out my Arcthunder, because this doesn't really allow a lot of room for stabbing.

"Already promoted," I answer. "You have a weapon?" We're doing that thing where we constantly look over our shoulders to talk to each other. This is so campy.

"Spear and a couple of thunder tomes." That didn't sound too confident.

I consider. "I got a steel spear if you want it, but the only tome I have is Arcthunder. Take it or leave it." I offer the spear for him to take; he swipes it.

Excellent.

The boom box begins playing Imperial Code, another Blazblye track; I poke Storm's shoulder. "These guys are slow. Let's just rush them and slaughter them."

"Yes, ma'am," he says, shifting accordingly. "Wait a minute. There's something at the entrance."

I look over– we're saved. It's Chrom and company. "Hey, boss! A little bit of help?"

He sees us amidst the sea of the undead, then waves him arm for the Shepherds to follow, almost frantic. "WE'RE COMING! JUST HOLD ON UNTIL WE CAN REACH YOU!"

I grin as the metal sets in. "No problem, boss!" I look at Storm and elbow him for his attention. "Let's cut us some undead flesh!"

Just after we've struck down two risen, I hear two 'oh my god's of different tones– one laughing, the other embarrassed. They're both masculine; I'd say the amused one was Welsh while Eldrad's embarrassed.

This is followed by 'wh– oh's. THAT would be Nin and Shio. I zap a risen in the way and behold the four of them staring in awe. Well, no. They're staring in disbelief, and it's the exact same face Robin had yesterday when she saw Nowi transform.

After the pause, Welsh shouts happily, "I'm game! HEY PLAY TAO'S THEME!"

He means Catus Carnival. Oh dear gods, if I can get to the stereo, I'm doing that. The other four dreamers then have a whole mess– while fighting, mind– over what the hell's going on. In the end, Shio's the one who tells them to focus on killing shit.

The next song which plays isn't Welsh's hope, Catus Carnival, but something faster: Condemnation Wings. "YES!" I scream. Apparently Storm shuffles his music like I do. Anyways, the style Storm and I use is like this: I paralyze them, and he finishes with stabs. And since these things are pretty much punching bags, they fall like sacks of potatoes. Sure, a few claws come near our faces, but they never actually hit us.

Either the music's pumping us up or distracting them. I don't know; I don't care. I just know we're being badasses. This in mind, I pick the stereo up and put it on my back. Oooogh, this is gonna suck.

It's a real mess. I don't know how to describe it. We kill one, turn around, find two. We split to kill them, turn back and reunite, we're surrounded again. We charge, get scratched, but make it out relatively alright. Then we turn, rinse, and repeat.

Perhaps not repeating, but it's just stabbing and bolting... and running. I sound bored, but my heart's pumping hard.

Wow, remember back when I would've been in panic mode? Damn, I've grown stamina. Storm, on the other hand, isn't doing so well; he's bent over half the time and I have to literally grab his hood and pull him up. He immediately apologizes between gasps, and sometimes even begs to swap weapons. Buuuut this is how to make him stronger, so I refuse.

But yeah, after a while of that, we've cut a swath to the Shepherds and reunited with 'em. "Hey, boss," I pant. Storm just flat out collapses; I use one foot to nudge him away from the fight.

Chrom looks at me, then Storm, then Storm's boom box (which is still on my back). "What in the seven hells is that thing?"

The answer comes from Storm in the form of a weak pant: "It uses magic... to play music... of a rather unique sort."

I shrug at Chrom. "Details later, I assume." I take the damn thing off and place it beside Storm, and gaaaawwwds I'm so happy to be rid of that weight.

Storm fumbles to stop the music just as the screaming dies down, the Shepherds having finished their work.

"Well," I sigh. "He said there's some good stuff on the other side of the chamber, and I believe we can waltz over there and grab it, now that we've defeated the trap guarding it."

Robin eyes the room curiously. "Good stuff?"

I shrug. "Weapons, gold. This IS the place where Eldrad found his shield."

"It is," and Eldrad himself affirms this. "I didn't find this room, though."

The next participant of the conversation is Storm; we all look down as he gasps words out between breaths. "I did... found some sweet regalia... Weapons for the lot of us."

I look up and smile at Robin. "We're gonna need that, ain't we? We ARE goin' off to save Emm."

Robin nods. "Chrom? We should take the weapons. In the meantime," she looks back to Storm again, "who are you?"

He gets up, with some apparent effort, and dusts his coat off. "Call me... Storm, ma'am. Shanzira here's my sis... I've been looking for her for years. Glad to have found her at last."

I smile. This is a bullshit story I can run with. "Chrom?" Robin looks to the boss again.

Chrom clears his throat. "I am Prince Chrom of Ylisse, and we're on a mission to rescue my sister, the Exalt. And..." His voice grows ginger, due to confusion. "What is that contraption you have? You didn't explain properly before."

Call me crazy, but is that relief in his voice? I mean, prior to the befuddlement.

Storm bends down to pick it up, then leaves it there because he doesn't yet have the strength to lug it again. "It's a music box, runs on magic. I picked it up on my travels, and while it's precious to me, I can't remember for the life of me where I found it. I just know how to work it."

Suuuure. Well, Chrom buys this, actually; the suspicion is just because I seriously doubt he'd forget acquiring his boom box. "Perhaps you might like to join us? Your sister, Shanzira, is a member of the Shepherds; if you would like to march with us, we'd be happy to have you."

Storm puffs up... something about his torso makes me want to squeeze him. "I'd be proud to, sir."

"Yaaaay," I cheer weakly. "Maybe the march won't be so boring now. We've got music." I hug Storm for this, for being so bold as to have a damn stereo.

"So," Storm looks over the other four dreamers, who are coming over as Chrom and Robin go off to examine the regalia Storm pointed out. "Six of us in all. Nin, Shanz..." He pauses at Eldrad. "I can't say I know you."

He shrugs. "Eldrad. They're Shio and Welsh."

Auburn eyebrows drift towards the ceiling. "So we all have codenames? Alright, then. Six dreamers, and a hell of a stage set for an epic tale."

Eldrad's the one who takes the needle to balloon. "This isn't a dream. It's reality."

With a stretch and a yawn, Storm waves him off. "A damn sweet reality. Much better than running across desert and hiding from Grimleal all day."

There's a pause, then Eldrad groans. "Right, now there's two of you." Aaaand there he goes, having decided this conversation was too weird to suffer through.

"Hiding from Grimleal?" Shio repeats, curious. "Why?"

There's a bit of fabric swishing around as Storm tries to find a decent spot of his– my– our– ok his was better– cloak to use as an example; after a while of tangling himself up, he settles with the eye markings on his right sleeve. "They think I'm one of them. While that's a great chance to stab them in the back, I'd rather not have them all hunting me instead of merely trying to befriend me."

That rings a bell. "So you're not the guy who backstabbed them yesterday." My mind brings up images of that totally badass guy with the Arcfire tome. Oh, wait– Storm has shit tomes, no arcfire, and he wields spears instead of swords."

Confused, he shakes his head. "What happened yesterday?"

"Well–" I blink in surprise; this was Shio who answered– "We recruited Nowi and Gregor, and this guy in a hood finished off the boss and then threw a smoke bomb to escape from us." Well, you can know someone for years and still be surprised every now and then.

There's a bit of a silence until Storm breaks it (OH SHIT, THAT WAS A PUN! I slap myself for thinking that) "That's... foreboding, to say the least." Well, the way Shio told it does bring up the realization that he had to escape us. Makes one wonder.

"Let's just all hit the hay." This is a ton of stuff to digest, we don't need more. Everyone agrees and disperses, except Storm, who hangs around me. "What?"

"I don't know where I'm supposed to sleep," he squeaks.

"Ask Robin, she's over there with Chrom."

He looks in the direction he sent them, which is where that wonderful weapons cache is, then trots off. I, meanwhile, make for my damn tent and plop myself down.

It's a little while before I fall asleep, but it happens.

"You're up bright and early," Mom says as I bounce out of my room.

"I had a really good night's sleep!" I smile at her and stifle a yawn. Arright, I wonder if there are cinnamon rolls to make?

To the guest who said "it's her brother": Only technically. Seriously, I hate my brother; why would I throw him into my SI? To everyone else who's been making random guesses: I'm not throwing in characters from other works or anything, I'm sticking with people I know. And Storm's me, right? I know him damn well.

I hope you guys enjoyed this one, it was really fun to write! Now I just have Emmeryn's whole mess to deal with. In other news, almost 100 followers! Darn, and I still haven't accrued enough characters to do that reward I kept mentioning before. Maybe I'll take a slight break to work on supports? I dunno. Anyways, keep reading! I love you all!