I awoke to the sounds of voices. Groaning, I slowly opened my blue eyes, squinting in the dim light. "Uggh...what the hell happened?" I moaned as I started to sit up, blinking a few times as my eyes struggled to adjust.
"Caitlin! You're awake!" I heard a relieved voice ring out through the darkness as shadows approached me in hurried shuffles. "You alright?" I turned towards the voice and Kathy's face came into view. As I turned my eyes to gaze hard at the other shadows, Laura and Angelina's features appeared through the darkness.
"Yeah...yeah, I'm fine. Take away the pounding headache and sudden blindness, I'm peachy keen." My voice dripped with heavy sarcasm.
"Well, the darkness isn't just you, Kitty," Angelina responded. At least that was good. "We're in some sort of prison."
I rubbed my eyes, muttering curses under my breath as I climbed, with some trouble, to my feet. "No kidding? In a prison? Well, how'd we end up here?" My eyes searched the darkness uselessly.
My friends frowned and after a while, Laura finally spoke up. "Well...everyone else weren't awake. But I know what happened...Soldiers...or at least the men were dressed like soldiers....only in stranger outfits. They came and dragged us through a huge building--some sort of palace, I'm guessing--and threw us in here. They called us demons...spawn from hell and such. I was still dizzy when they came, so I didn't quite catch everything. But Kitty...." Laura paused, sounding worried. "I...I don't think we're in Decatur anymore."
No shit, Dorthy, I was tempted to say, but kept my mouth shut. There was no need to be snappy, though I had assumed we were no longer in Decatur a while before. My eyes shifted around the small cell when realization hit me. My eyes widened and I whirled back around to face Laura, Mu, and Li. "Where's Megan?!!"
"When we woke up, she wasn't here," Kathy frowned. "No one knows where she is. There isn't a trace of her anywhere."
I opened my mouth to say something else when the sound of a door slamming echoed in the darkness. Listening to the approaching footsteps, we grew quiet, frozen in fear, hardly even breathing. Suddenly a blinding light appeared through the bars, shining hard upon our darkness-adjusted eyes. Crying out in pain, my hands shot up to my face, trying to block out the light. I dropped to my knees as I heard my friends scream as well--they were apparently in more pain due to being awake longer--and felt their bodies drop to the ground, silent. My hands slowly moved away slowly as I squinted into the painful light, feeling weaker and weaker. There, in the midst of the white, a face...an angelic, beautiful face...the face of a man...of an angel...gazed down at me with soft brown-gold eyes. Slowly my eyes closed once again, drifting into the darkness once again.
* * * * * *
I dreamed of Gundams. Gundam Wing...but why? I had not seen the show for a while. There was no real reason to remember it so clearly. In my dream, a battle was taking place. I was part of it, within a mobile suit of my own. A Scorpio. A new suit, one never used by anyone in the Gundam series. A Scorpio had never even been mentioned in Gundam Wing. Yet, there I was, piloting one...and piloting it with incredible skill.
I watched the battle fall out before me. Everything seemed so real...too real. The details, the explosions, everything. I heard voices call out to me over the intercom. Familiar voices. The Gundam pilots...I could hear their voices clearly as they fought. But Quatre's voice reached me the most easily. Another voice, not a Gundam pilot, but a female...and someone I knew very well. The voice of Mary...only there was a strange, distant quality to her tone as she screamed to me. Warning me. But of what? An incoming danger?
The fight continued on, faster than I could see. The movements suddenly sped up, a blur of action playing out before me. Somehow, I sensed movement to my right and began to turn. But no! My movements were too slow, too sluggish for this raging battle! A beam of bright light...white energy, coming at me. A scream echoed over the radio as my Scorpio and I were engulfed in the beam.
Then silence. Utter silence.
"Caitlin! You're awake!" I heard a relieved voice ring out through the darkness as shadows approached me in hurried shuffles. "You alright?" I turned towards the voice and Kathy's face came into view. As I turned my eyes to gaze hard at the other shadows, Laura and Angelina's features appeared through the darkness.
"Yeah...yeah, I'm fine. Take away the pounding headache and sudden blindness, I'm peachy keen." My voice dripped with heavy sarcasm.
"Well, the darkness isn't just you, Kitty," Angelina responded. At least that was good. "We're in some sort of prison."
I rubbed my eyes, muttering curses under my breath as I climbed, with some trouble, to my feet. "No kidding? In a prison? Well, how'd we end up here?" My eyes searched the darkness uselessly.
My friends frowned and after a while, Laura finally spoke up. "Well...everyone else weren't awake. But I know what happened...Soldiers...or at least the men were dressed like soldiers....only in stranger outfits. They came and dragged us through a huge building--some sort of palace, I'm guessing--and threw us in here. They called us demons...spawn from hell and such. I was still dizzy when they came, so I didn't quite catch everything. But Kitty...." Laura paused, sounding worried. "I...I don't think we're in Decatur anymore."
No shit, Dorthy, I was tempted to say, but kept my mouth shut. There was no need to be snappy, though I had assumed we were no longer in Decatur a while before. My eyes shifted around the small cell when realization hit me. My eyes widened and I whirled back around to face Laura, Mu, and Li. "Where's Megan?!!"
"When we woke up, she wasn't here," Kathy frowned. "No one knows where she is. There isn't a trace of her anywhere."
I opened my mouth to say something else when the sound of a door slamming echoed in the darkness. Listening to the approaching footsteps, we grew quiet, frozen in fear, hardly even breathing. Suddenly a blinding light appeared through the bars, shining hard upon our darkness-adjusted eyes. Crying out in pain, my hands shot up to my face, trying to block out the light. I dropped to my knees as I heard my friends scream as well--they were apparently in more pain due to being awake longer--and felt their bodies drop to the ground, silent. My hands slowly moved away slowly as I squinted into the painful light, feeling weaker and weaker. There, in the midst of the white, a face...an angelic, beautiful face...the face of a man...of an angel...gazed down at me with soft brown-gold eyes. Slowly my eyes closed once again, drifting into the darkness once again.
* * * * * *
I dreamed of Gundams. Gundam Wing...but why? I had not seen the show for a while. There was no real reason to remember it so clearly. In my dream, a battle was taking place. I was part of it, within a mobile suit of my own. A Scorpio. A new suit, one never used by anyone in the Gundam series. A Scorpio had never even been mentioned in Gundam Wing. Yet, there I was, piloting one...and piloting it with incredible skill.
I watched the battle fall out before me. Everything seemed so real...too real. The details, the explosions, everything. I heard voices call out to me over the intercom. Familiar voices. The Gundam pilots...I could hear their voices clearly as they fought. But Quatre's voice reached me the most easily. Another voice, not a Gundam pilot, but a female...and someone I knew very well. The voice of Mary...only there was a strange, distant quality to her tone as she screamed to me. Warning me. But of what? An incoming danger?
The fight continued on, faster than I could see. The movements suddenly sped up, a blur of action playing out before me. Somehow, I sensed movement to my right and began to turn. But no! My movements were too slow, too sluggish for this raging battle! A beam of bright light...white energy, coming at me. A scream echoed over the radio as my Scorpio and I were engulfed in the beam.
Then silence. Utter silence.