01

01/03/14 - 15

Perhaps: Sometime Soon

She'd wanted to stay like this forever, but she new all things ended eventually. She smiled at him sadly as she felt the energy render her airborne. She needed to tie up loose ends at home, it would be heartbreaking for all who knew her to just vanish again. The light shaft deposited her exactly were it'd found her, the shower. This time no steaming water poured from the fixture, just the occasional drip of the leaky tap. She paused listening, silently as she could she pulled back the shower door and delicately extracted herself and the borrowed fanelian gown from the tiled enclosure.

The fabric rustled against itself and wall as Hitomi slowly returned to her room. Closing the door and flicking the light on she reached a hand behind herself to undo the dress. With growing alarm her hand searched the back of the gown, she turn her back to a mirror to get a better view. Sighing inwardly she flicked off the lights and collapsed into her bed. There was no way she was getting free of the dress without the help of another. Contented to lay in peace, sorting out her mind she tumbled into a steady sleep.

He came to her in her dream. She smiled at him and turned her back gesturing to the complicated mechanisms the Gaians called clasps. Van shrugged, his mind boggled at how he was supposed to help her. The dreamer giggled bringing a hand to her face to hide her mirth. The couple leaned into each other, content to stay in the vestiges of sleep and wake. "Promise me Van, by the time I return to Gaia you will have learned how to free me from this contraption!" His fingers, interlaced with hers tightened gently, "And if I fail in my task will you..."

The daunting reply faded to the harsh pounding of a buzzing alarm clock. With a furious swipe Kanzaki Hitomi pounded the irritating noise to silence. Pulling the covers of her bed up tighter around her she told herself firmly she was just going to lay in bed for a few more minutes. Forty-five contented sleep filled minutes later, she was cursing herself furiously as she rushed to find Yukari in hopes that she could release Hitomi from the gown's grip. She gathered her school books in a frantic panic while brushing her teeth. Stuffing some clean clothes to change into she tossed her items in her bag Pulling on her well worn running shoes with some trouble she tightened her grip on her duffle bag and took off at a pace that would have put Amano to shame.

Out of breath and panting in desperation Hitomi Kanzaki neared Yukari's dorm. She gasped in shock, emergency response vehicles lined the street around a neighboring dorm while one fire truck spewed forth gallons of water on the building's surface. Pushing her way through the gathered crowd of school mates she found herself face to face with Amano, "Amano-sempai? What's happening?" He turned to her with an almost frightening expression. "We were just heading in for the first bell when the fire alarm went off." Hitomi blanched, "someone set fire to the dorms?" Amano gave no response, he just turned to continue watching the action, his face tight with fear.

Even from where she stood, clothed in the heavy gown the heat pressed against her bare skin. In rushing succession her mind was repeatedly assaulted by visions of her past on Gaia. Underlying everything was the image of Fanelia alight in flames, battles waging in spite of the crawling flames. 'Oh please no...' she whispered under her breath. Backing away from the crowd she turned and sprinted away the best she could. Despite her tears she managed to return to her own room before finally breaking down in a sobbing heap.

Hitomi sighed heavily, she missed everyone, especially Van. The incident that morning had brought her whole Gaian ordeal back to her. She wondered how much he'd changed in the four years they'd been apart. Everything she knew about the present Van were snippets of information she'd snatched from him on the rare occasion they both daydreamed on the same moment. Every night in a daily ritual she would press one of his soft feathers to her lips and wish him well before turning in for the night. One morning Hitomi had awoken to the sound of wind chimes, soft and delicately playing in the wind, 'we don't own chimes' her mind muttered in confusion.

That was usually how the dreams started. First she would kiss a feather goodnight and climb softly into bed. It would seem like no time had passed when she would awaken to the sound of the dancing chimes. Stretching in lazy contentment she basked in the warm sun. Hitomi sat upright her eyes wide with suspicion and fear, they didn't own wind chimes and the morning sun never entered through her window. Most of the dreams began with her waking up in her old room on Gaia in Fanaeia's Pallas before it was destroyed. Outside it was either dusk or dark, with both of Gaia's white moon's staring back at her full and round with curiosity intense like the starlight. Carefully she would always push back the covers afraid to disturb the silence encasing the castle. It was usually at that point Hitomi would become an omnipotent observer, occasionally watching from her own eyes. She had no control over her body, it moved and acted like her as she followed watching.

In the beginning the dreams would end just as she would reach a hand out to the door handle of her room. Eventually it seemed as she revisited the nighttime manifestation Hitomi found she could advance farther and farther with each session. Soon after she conquered the door she arrived outside in the long corridor. The carpet was scratchy and cold on her bare feet as she pressed herself up against the walls. Without a torch or light the observer couldn't determine where her body was venturing. Out of the waning darkness shadows began to appear, the pearly orange glow of scones inset into the stone walls cast their luminescence on two double doors.

From her all seeing point of view she watched herself push open the doors with a feminine grunt before stepping into the darkness beyond. It pressed in from all sides in a rushing moment blurred by her own frantic struggles. She was back in her own body, eyes squinting painfully in the darkness of any sign of life or reason for her entrance into this place.

The first sounds made her heart jump and her body roll with anticipation. What was she expected to find here?

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Okay well thats kinda it for the introductions...I'll probably have something spicier next time...most likely something kinda heated depending on the reviews.