I want to apologize for putting Jessi's dream in there. I tried to think of a way to avoid it, but in the end I really rather liked the idea and thought it would be fun to write. Heh, I think I know Jessi better than I know myself, being one of my oldest characters, so I don't want to cheat her of her spotlight here :-P You may want to skip that part if you haven't read my Star Wars fanfic, because you probably won't understand it. Oh yeah, and it's not the same as in the fic, because often you don't dream of events the way they really happen.
A long time ago in another dimension...
Meet J1, a two-dimensional, sparkly-eyed, sweat-dropped, shiny-cool-robot-booted, mini-skirted-sailor-scout-school-uniformed region of Appa. What is Appa, you ask? Let me tell you: it is a world that one can only be brought to by a longing to leave normal, boring, humdrum Earth (E.R. in Appa-speak). It is a world with no rules. Ponder that a moment. None, nadda, zip. Oh, certainly, there are guidelines, and they are moderately more consistent than a quarter landing heads-up. These guidelines, however, change at a whim, surprising, appalling, or delighting all who visit. For those like us are in charge in this land of imagination and dreams. In fact, it is visited quite often in slumber and daydreams. Perhaps it would be less confusing if you paid a short visit to E1.
E1 is home to a walled city called the Hub. It is the center of this odd dimension, and most of the time the other regions such as J1, C1, or B1 lay around its outskirts like section of tire around a hubcap. The naming of these regions is simple: E1 stands for Earth 1, the section in three dimensions, which real persons are used to, J1 for Japanese animation 1 (hey, it's stupid, but it's what the visitors know), and so forth. These regions are typically connected to E1 as I have mentioned earlier, and go on only a short distance or forever, typically including every type of terrain. Usually there is only one of each region, and they stay in one place. A tree you visited a week ago by entering J1 and walking down a path for 4 miles will probably be at those same coordinates on your next visit, unless its sudden misplacement would be dramatically inconvenient. No rules, remember?
Back to the Hub. There are stone dwellings in this section, giving the city an archaic, old-world feel that's rather pleasant. Scents of cooking permeate the air, and upon turning a corner lies a little shop like something out of Aladdin, the shop keeper holding out a giant turkey leg. Yummy. It's easier to see from the top of the city walls. The lush green ground slopes downward from the city, which apparently stands at the top of a massive hill for defensive purposes. Lounging on the grass nearby is a character you created, who does not see you. Footsteps sound behind you, and Seto Kaiba appears, and you know that he's your own Seto because he's wearing moderately provocative clothing and blowing you a kiss. A shadow passes, caused by an angry western-style dragon flying overhead, breathing smoke. On the sloping ground Link draws an arrow to slay this menace, but Jacen Solo stays his bow and uses his empathy to coax the dragon away from the city. But now you've become bored: the character you wished to see is not here, so it's time to find a warp hole.
Ah yes, warp holes. Fickle things that transport things from dimension to dimension wherever they so please. These holes are not necessary to pass between Appa regions, but they are needed to enter the world of a book/movie/show etc. Once a real person enters this world, the characters may remember the last time that person came, but as soon as that person leaves, it is as if they never came.
There is one more important matter to mention. Every real person gets a special power. It could be strong or weak, a strange gift or something everyone wants. Usually the gifted have a connection to it in real life, and usually it takes a while to discover what exactly the new skill is.
Right now, the important place to be for our story is a small desert town in J1. The sky is clear blue, the buildings are wooden and crumbling, an old-western feel. J1, meet visitor. Visitor, meet J1.
Now that introductions are out of the way, lets get back to the story, shall we?
Tato brushed the dust off her jacket from the bits of vaporized pavement as the Millennium Falcon took off into the starry sky. The dust made little clouds in the air, and she grinned. Nothing's much more fun than being anime, yes?
Something ran past her and rounded a corner, and as she turned in vain to see who, something else ran into her with full force, knocking her breathless to the ground. Painfully picking herself up, she found that she was staring into a face nearly identical to her own, but with darkly-lined eyes and gelled hair that actually cooperated, and clad in lots of leather and buckles.
"Aw, whatcha standing in the middle of the street for, aibou?" whined Yamita, rubbing her head. "I had almost caught up to her!"
"I just got here, Yamita. Ouch. Thanks so much for running into me. Who?"
"You're welcome. Jessi. I bet her my diamond necklace that my Force speed could match hers."
"You don't have a diamond necklace."
Yamita grinned evilly. "That would be the point, mon amie."
"Besides, you being my dark half and all, your Force powers aren't as strong as mine."
"Well I think THAT is a matter of-"
Jessi stuck her head out from around a corner, smirking at Yamita and breathing heavily. "Heh... you couldn't... catch me! Where's... my necklace?"
"First of all, I almost did and would have if it wouldn't have been for my moronic hikari here. And second, I don't have a diamond necklace. THIRD, you must be a pretty lousy Jedi if you can't even sense when I'm lying."
Jessi straightened immediately, all signs of fatigue gone. "Do you want to see this place or not?"
"What?" asked Tato, confused.
"Jessi says she's found something interesting. C'mon, let's go see!"
-----
About four miles and three accusations of not-knowing-the-way later, they came to an oasis; in the center was a magnificent temple. It was a grand, beautiful, ivy-laden structure of whitest stone with pillars in front, surrounded by an ancient wall, a small circular pool bordered by stone shimmering before it. The whole place reeked of timelessness and enchantment. A gentle breeze blew, lightening the crystalline air, dissipating the heat of the desert to creating a feeling of a completely different world altogether.
The three approached it with an awed reverence, touching the pillars gingerly like something holy.
"It hits you like this every time," breathed Jessi.
"How many times have you been here?" asked Yamita in hushed tones.
"Twice now."
Sweatdrops appeared on the duo's foreheads.
"What?" Jessi asked indignantly. "Follow me."
They followed her through a winding maze of solemn halls, finally coming upon a curtain cutting off their way.
"Stop," the Jedi ordered. "Tato, do you feel that?"
She closed her eyes and stretched out her senses, becoming aware of a shifting, bubbling feel of the force around her.
"I think it's a dimension warp," Jessi continued, "but I didn't want to go in there alone."
"So you brought us to go in first, how nice," Yamita said sarcastically.
"I figured we could all go together, actually."
"Sounds good to me," Tato said. "Nobody will be left to warn the other poor suckers who stumble over here."
Jessi pushed the curtain aside, and they stepped into a chamber. High windows adorned the far wall, casting a golden gleam on the dust floating lazily in the air. Torches burned yellow in niches in the wall. Most of the chamber floor was covered by a shallow pool of some lurid, gleaming oil that filled the room heavily with a sweet, alluring scent that muffled the thoughts, relaxed the muscles, soothed the soul, and the flower petals seemed to dance to the sweet dance of Time as the golden light filtering through the windows grew warmer and brighter, the nexus of a slow cosmic waltz around which the rose petals and flecks of gold-dust danced around and around and around.
Tato found herself running from some unknown malignant entity towards an airlock from which the stars sparkled coldly. Struggle as she may, however, she could not run as fast as she wished; warm syrupy air pulled at her limbs, and her body was unresponsive. Somehow she managed to make it to the airlock, and flung herself through. As she flew through, time slowed so that every glittering shard of the shattered glass was illuminated with an icy light. Strangely, she felt no impact, but hit the ground running in a lush jungle. The entity was gaining, and she had to get away, get away fast, but her body refused to move. It's a dream, screamed something in her mind, but panic had its fiery talons around her heart and refused to let go, blinding her unresponsive to the fact that there was no true danger. There was a pit before her: she grabbed a vine and swung out over the pit, which was suddenly filled with snakes of every size and species, and the rope was suddenly far too weak. It broke, and she found herself falling into the pit of snakes, falling... falling.
A bright light.
Color and rationality, stone walls, a pool of fragrant oil...
But by the doorway.
Three bodies... Tato reeled as she recognized them as Jessi, Yamita, and herself. How strange... and yet...
She looked down, and discovered that there were no ripples where her feet touched the pool. In fact, as she realized that she had no substantial body, this became fact, and she began to sink into the stone. Quickly she concentrated on forgetting about gravity, which is a difficult task for those so conditioned to it, and found that she could hover gently above the floor. She noticed now that there was a slight shimmer around her body, an aura of unreality. I've fallen out of my dream.
A little disoriented, she took several steps toward into the shimmering field around Yamita's body. The world dissolved around her...
...She found herself in a dark room, yet she was able to see very well. By the doorway crouched Yamita in a black body stocking, a knife in one hand. Gingerly she touched her alter ego on the shoulder.
"Yo, Tato," Yamita whispered without turning. "Quiet, would you? I need to complete my mission?"
"Your mission?"
"I need to assassinate Borsk Fey'lya." A bag was shoved into Tato's hands. "Hold my pokéballs, would you?"
"Um... sure." Tato waited quietly while Yamita crept into the room, only to be ambushed by Aoshi, whose swing she nimbly avoided with a neat flip which she turned into a roll, bringing her around to his back into which she nimbly planted her own katana.
"Yamita!" cried Tato as her yami wiped the blood off. "I can't believe you just killed Aoshi! And you're breaking rules."
"Says the girl who's in my dream," laughed Yamita. "I can do whatever I want. What are you doing here, anyway?"
"What about that annoying Bothan?"
"I don't have to get him anymore," she said. "The dream lost interest in him. Wait, never mind, I know why you're here. It's that temple."
"You want to check out Jessi's dream?"
"I bet it's boring." She thought a little. "I bet it's a nightmare."
"Jedi don't have nightmares. Or dreams, for that matter..."
"She's your character. You should know her, and consequently you should think that she has nightmares, too."
Pause.
"So... how do we get out of here?" asked Tato.
"How we always get out of dreams, I suppose," said Yamita with a growing smirk.
"And just how is--oh, no. Get away from me!"
Before she could flee, Yamita pushed her off the cliff, then swan-dived after her. "Come on, aibou, have some fun!"
"Easy for you to say, you jumped volun-"
The world around them dissolved...
...Back in the temple in the perfumed room.
"-tarily. Um."
"Well," said Yamita, looking down at her hovering feet. "This is interesting. Haha, I bet this is how Fenchurch feels. Now I simply need to figure out how to fly, and find my bish, and--"
"Stop right there! Why did I get a yami with such a filthy mind..."
"I'm you, m'dear, and don't forget it!" taunted Yamita, pointing out the bane of hikaris everywhere.
"That sparkly area must be Jessi's dream," said Tato, staring at the shimmering air around the sleeping Jedi.
The two stared in uncomfortable silence for a moment.
"She won't be happy," said Tato uneasily.
"She wouldn't be happy if we let her sleep, either," replied Yamita grimly.
"I'm too young to die."
"You're such a zwitterion, aibou," teased Yamita, rather randomly.
"I'm a neutral molecule?"
"Shut up, let's just go."
The world around them dissolved...
... First came the dusty, chafing desert wind stinging their cheeks and eyes. Then, a blinding white light, dimming as their eyes adjusted, revealing a vast landscape of desolate sand. Tatooine. Several yards ahead of them were two figures: a world-worn, sandy-haired man with eyes like the sky, and a vibrant, blond-haired girl with a countenance to rival the twin suns. They walked along together, the man telling glorious stories of daring rebellions, powerful evil, and terrifying fighter-battle amidst the not-so-distant stars, the girl eating up every word, head reeling with the possibilities of this world newly opened to her. The man wore a black robe, the girl a suit of the same color.
The girl was giggling happily. Her arms swept upward as she proclaimed her opinion to the dusty planet around her, as she embraced the universe with every hopeful word.
Laughing, the man shook his head and gently rebuked her, and they continued on their way.
Teacher, student, sand, and sky.
Yamita and Tato held their breath, waiting, watching.
Suddenly, the ground began to shake and then split, forming a gaping chasm. Simultaneously, laser shots began to strike the ground around the two, fired by stormtroopers on the other side. The man began to sprint toward something at the end of the chasm; a look of horrified realization spread over the girl's previously bright face, and she frantically grabbed at the man's robe. Too late. Laser bolts flying, she followed him, shouting, screaming, pleading. The wind became a gale, tearing, clawing, whipping at sanity.
A bolt shot towards the man. Time slowed. As though moving through syrup, Jessi hurled herself toward him, knocking him towards the chasm.
Over the edge. Into the blackness.
Swirling, eating, encompassing, dreadful blackness.
As he fell, he sailed past another girl standing calmly on the edge, the wind framing her cruel, pale face with ruddy-black hair. Void of expression, her black eyes watched as he tumbled past, into the chasm, propelled by the girl's push.
Down he fell, down, down, and the world dimmed around them, until all was blackness. Only Yamita, Tato, and the girl remained. The girl who fell to her knees as though pulled down by the force of the universe.
Tato and Yamita waited.
Finally, Jessi raised her bowed head and stared blankly at them, all brightness torn from her expression, all the life drained from her form. Dead.
For a long time, they held that pose.
Waiting.
Blow, cold wind, echo the moment.
"If you're going to intrude upon other people's dreams," Jessi said finally, in carefully measured tones, "you could at least have the compassion to end their nightmares."
"Get over yourself, Jedi," replied Yamita.
Pause.
Jessi blinked, then smiled, forcedly. It did not reach her eyes, eyes which now held only whispers of the brightness once shining in them.
Yamita tried again. "We're gonna move on, Jedi-girl, and if you're coming with us, you better drop this 11th-dwarf-'Mopey' stuff, you dig, you dig, you dig?"
The Jedi nodded, then laughed. The light did not return. "I gotcha. Onward, then? Who's next on the blacklist?"
Yamita sighed. "Let's just get back to J1, neh?"
"Yeh," replied Tato, and just like that, the world dissolved...