I'll admit I'm furious as I sit here listening to Fira. I hate when he

fills me with hope. Even though I pray for a way home I truly believe

darkness will swallow us first. Please Fira, please be right. Avalon

please tell me that you lied to me.

Narrator: Utada's mother's apartment

Time: 1:14 am.

Location: Tokyo Japan

"No it just doesn't sound right." I whispered tossing away a piece of crinkled notebook paper. Staring out of my top floor window I looked for inspiration. It was for my new song. I remember it being a normal Friday night. Outside city lights, people, and the pleasant sound of traffic kept me up. It reminded me of New York, my first hometown. I was really an American but my adopted mom's job forced us to move here. She wasn't to mad though because she was born here and was Japanese.

"Ugh... I guess it's just not a musical night." Getting up from my window desk, I belly flopped hard onto my four-mattress bed. Mindlessly my hand slipped underneath one of my pillows for my dell notebook. As I turned it on I shivered at the incoming breeze on a count that I was only in my bra and Pajama boxers. I logged onto my A.O.L. As normal it took 1000 years for it to load, so I did some moves on my skateboard.

"WELCOME. YOU GOT MAIL."

"Oh great more Spam." I dragged jumping off the board sending it crashing into my door. "Mom's going to kill me."As I opened my mail I looked to see whom it was from. Oddly enough all information was currently unavailable. It was strange because I'm not one to be curious but something in my mind told me to read it. Double clicking open my screen went black."Oh craps don't tell me it was a virus!" I pressed the power button panicking. Again it was that something I never did. There was no change. Just as I tried to turn it back on a staff appeared on my screen. It was beautiful with an intricate design. Whoa it was Yuna's staff from FX!

My screen now had a red glow to it. What the fuck! My screen now looked like that gunk from the Matrix! Sadly I had to go all Neo and touch it. The plasma started to travel up my arm. "It's hot! Its so-so hot make it stop!" I cried. I could feel some of my arm hair burn. The plasma soon covered my entire body. The pain was agonizing as it found it's way down my throat. It was the only thing I could think about, but it was nothing compared to the hard blow to my back.

"Ouch!" I had landed on a large stone slab. Whoa what a ride, I looked around noticed were I was. A graveyard. But not just any one, oh no this was the greatest of all of them put together. Halloween

town, and wow I never looked so good! I wasn't in my birthday suit any more but I was in a nice outfit.

I had on Yuna's summoner top, pinky ring and pendant. I had Rinoa's arm ties and cloak only black, Aerith's multi bracelets. I had large silver hoop earrings, with two sapphire studs right above them. Followed by another blue one on my top left lobe. But what I loved most was my black skater pants and sneakers. On the large stone coffin was a staff and a deck of cards. "Sweet". I picked up the staff swinging it like mad. My waist long auburn hair was in an elegant ruby jeweled messy bun.

"It won't do any good unless you put a card on it you know."

I turned in a shock. A tall red headed man maybe about 17 was just a few feet from me. Although he was lanky he was armed rather heavily. He carried a sword on his waist and an enormous battleaxe on his back.

Even though I refused to show it at the time, he scared me a lot.

"Who are you?"

"My name's Raithu. You can't just go swing around a staff like that without using your cards. It will go through the heartless like phantoms. Raithu stared deep into my hazel eyes. I started to snicker.

When the heartless find you won't be doing that.

"Oh my god. Let me guess you are the creepy guy of the dream right? I must have really fallen off my skateboard and hit my head again or fell into a sugar coma".

"Believe me this is no dream. As much As I wish it was."

"Yea uh huh I'm really in Halloween Town, dressed in the best female characters clothes in all the final Fantasies with a crazy warrior. Sorry Mister Raithu was it? But you are only the result of 3 gallons of

soda and 8 bags of M&Ms."It was weird even though I can't even remember the last time I had something that wasn't artificially processed my school nurse thought I was anorexic because my weight is extremely low even for some one as short as me, 5’0.

"This is no dream! Listen you can stay here where they will find you or you can come with me and stand a chance."

"Ok I'll go with you from now, but my alarm should be waking me up soon so don't get used to my company. Raithu rolled his eyes".

"Don't forget your cards". I ran over to the coffin and slipped them into the cloak pocket.

I really didn't like this Raithu dream. But when I woke up he would make a great Goth chamber rock song.

"We are going to see an old friend of mine. He might be able to help us. But first, do you know how to use your cards?" I nodded."

"You don't talk much do you?" I scowled at him. "Can I at the least know your name?"

"Utada Aoki"

"Well it's a start." Raithu lead me out of the graveyard out of Guillotine Square and into a large morbid looking building. Raithu held my hand as he led me up the stairs. A he opened the door I stopped him.

"Wait shouldn't you at leased knock?"

"No need. We are expected."

I didn't say a word as Raithu pulled me inside. We were soon in a large bleak lad. A tall skeleton and a man

in a wheel chair facing a table in the middle of a room, a large gargoyle heartless lied there in an unnatural sleep.

"Doctor you were right, I found her".

The man in the wheel chair finally put his concentration towards us. Or course was the one and only Dr. Finklestein.

"Of course I'm right! I calculated the nuclear vortex suction plus her weight with the gravitational pull with her world and I was able to estimate when she would arrive here".

That's cool I guess. I felt so brain dead. "So, what you got over their Doc?" I pointed to the dead heartless. Jack turned to me now.

"It's good of you to ask that Utada."

"Utada. More and more heartless are arriving here every day. The doctor and I are trying to figure out a way to stop them or at hopefully find out where they are coming from." I nodded wondering when this would all be over, cause this was just way too annoying for some one with low tolerance like me.

"Ok then just follow them when they go away or something."

Raithu smacked his forehead and grabbed my shoulders.

"What don't you get? This is not a dream!" I could tell he was really pissed off, but hey I wasn't going to back down.

"Take them off or I'll brake them off." He did. "Prove to me that this isn't a dream and I swear I'll cooperate." My wish was their command I guess cause at that very second a swarm of heartless

came crashing through one of the lab windows. Ok I believe you!

"No time for that now slap the card on your staff and summon

something! Jack help me hold them off!"

"Right." Jack and I said in unison. I searched through my cards relentlessly for a summoning card. Ok I need an Aeon I guess Eureka! I pulled out a Valfor card. "Guys watch out! Give me strength!" The moment seemed to go in Slow motion as I slapped the card on to the staff. In an instant a huge winged beast appeared. "Hey I'm Utada, nice to meet you." It bowed its head in response.

"Hey I don't mean to be pushy but can you save these guys for me?"

Valfor nearly smiled. Who knows how long he was in that card for? He span up to the ceiling and a large beam came out of his mouth and disintegrated the heartless.

Raithu looked at me a little startled. I think fast on my feet. You can close your mouth now. Jack cautiously lifted his head from behind the table. He had hid just in time.

"Are you ok Jack?"

"Yes thank you."

"Ugh but I'm not! Get me down!" Dr. Finklestein had flipped over in his wheel chair and had some how ended up on the light right above the dissected monster.

"I'll get you down." I got on the table and started to jump for him. Stupid shortness, Raithu sneered at me. "Well if you think you can do any better then you get him down." All he had to do was reach up and he was down and in his chair.

"Alright I'm not dreaming, then do any of you mind telling me where the heck the heartless came from? You know what don't bother answering cause you know what I don't really care. I just want to know where do we go now?"

"We will have to search for clues to where they hail from."

"Great deduction Raithu." I snapped. "Well we had best start in this room. They must have dropped something."

It seemed to take hours as Jack, Raithu, and I search for an unknown something. I still remember all that debris he had to look through.

"Ah haa" Jack exclaimed. "I think I found something." He held up a large slate feather the size of my arm.

"Let me see." I stared at it for some time before I came to my analysis. "Hey, this looks like a condor feather." For once in my life I blushed.

"Let me see that." Dr. Finklestein snatched it away from the pumpkin king. "This looks oddly familiar." He asked Raithu to pull out a large torn up poison green book. After flipping through a few hundred pages he said "Yes this is where I've seen this." He pointed a large black and white photograph in the book. Fort Condor.

"Fort Condor, the fort Condor?"

"Yes. That would explain a lot because it's only a couple hours away, and all the screams lately. I would go but the Halloween Festival is in two days. Raithu you and your friend should go check it out."

"Another words this is going to be the life changing adventure?" I asked annoyed. I always hated this part.

No time for that now. We better get going. Raithu once again grabbed my hand as he led me out of the town and into a wide-open plane.