It had been a week since John had his strange dream, and in all honesty he had forgotten about it. It hadn't happened again, and really as dreams went it wasn't as weird as it could have been.

Having lunch with Rose had become a permanent thing and more often than not, Rose's brother Dave would end up eating with them. John found him to be more than just a little cool and uncommonly funny with his constant irony and sarcasm. On occasion John even considered the older boy very deep with some of the things he would say, which he ultimately found weird as Rose had told him he never paid attention in class and was always trying to dodge detentions for his sarcasm, however the teachers called it 'being a smartass'.

"I thought it would be prudent to inform you, that I saw our dear brother skulking about your door today, before I went down to breakfast."

John found it amazing how eloquent and yet conversational Rose always sounded. It was almost as if he expected her to admit she was really a princess, or at least a multi-billion dollar heiress.

"What? Really? Well shit, you couldn't have maybe mentioned this sooner? Like in the car, or you know, before we left the house."

"I could have, yes. It would have been very simple to tell you. However, I've noticed that whenever he is actually awake in the morning, it's only ever to train you for whatever perceived evils he has going on at the forefront of his mind. Shouldn't you be used to it by now?"

"Yeah, about that. He's never given me any kind of straight answer about pulling all that 'Be a Man' shit on me. But you, a prime Mulan candidate, he doesn't even bother with."

"Putting aside that possible attempt to suggest I could easily pull off looking like a man. I can tell you that he has tried, I think after looking through my psychology journals, however, he feels I'm more than able to protect myself."

"Well, shit."

John sat, watching the pair interact with each other, and couldn't help but think it was great how quickly they would retort to each other's comments. He wondered idly if all siblings were like that.

Lunch had continued on and John was attempting to combat Dave in a rap battle as Rose looked on with great amusement. Dave slaughtered John, who had no previous experience with rap battles but still managed to find it fun, even if it was just because he was laughing at Dave's attempts to 'burn' him through rhyme.

Just as Rose had interjected to suggest that the blood bath of rap proportions should end, a sparrow dove at John, making him duck a few times before it flew off in frustration.

"Huh, well that was weird."

Rose and Dave nodded in agreement, before looking around as the school grounds started to become a chorus of surprised yelps and angry shouts. There were several birds of different species that had decided to attack students, and from the looks of it the number of birds was growing.

"This is all starting to get a little too Hitchcock for my liking."

Dave had raised both eyebrows at the scene unfolding around them; Rose seemed unenthused.

"Maybe we should go inside, I don't particularly wish to deal with mad bird flu."

"Really? This is mad bird flu?"

John asked Rose, who shared a look with her brother.

"Come on Egderp, let's do as the lady says before a Blue Jay makes a home in your hair."

Getting up from their bench, the trio started to make their way into the main building.

As they went, they noticed many of the students were starting to drop as the bird attacks continued, like they were suddenly tired. John slowed his pace a little, looking at those who had just dropped to the ground as everyone else tried to get away from the birds.

He turned back quickly as he heard Dave exclaim his sister's name. He saw Rose go limp in Dave's arms as he swatted at the crow who had attacked them.

"John, stop fucking about and come on, before we all dirt nap!"

Dave scooped his sister up and ran through the school's doors. John was just about to follow when he was grabbed from behind and pulled into the bushes that lined the building walls. He yelped in surprise and turned to look at his kidnapper.

He stared.

A white dog stood before him, sitting as it tilted its head before sitting back on its haunches. John looked hard at the dog's face, but he couldn't seem to make out any features.

"Uh... Hi?"

The dog's ear twitched, and it looked out of the bushes towards the growing cloud of birds then back at John, then flicked its head towards the birds as if suggesting he go out there.

"Yeah, there's lots of birds out there, huh. Why don't you have , you know, any eyes... Or a nose?"

John assumed the dog gave him another long stare; it felt like the look that Rose and Dave had taken to giving to him when he seemed to miss the point on something.

"I'm sorry, it's just... Well, you're a dog. I don't know what you're trying to say"

The dog seemed to heave a great sigh, then stood. In front of John's face something started to appear; as it became solid, John saw it was a circular silver pendant, with a green Spirographed image on the front. The back had a blue wave symbol. John felt the wave seemed familiar to him. It shimmered for the teen who stared at it with surprise and a confused excitement.

"Hey, wow. How did you do that? Did you even do this? Would it be... For me?"

As John asked the last question he started to reach out to the pendant. The dog's ears pitched straight at the boy intently. His fingers curled around the silver floating in front of him, his eyes wide with curiosity.

The world went white, he was all alone. No dog, no hedge, no school, Dave or Rose. The pendant shone in his hand, and before he had a chance close his eyes against the brightness he heard a phrase in his head. It sounded insistent, like it needed to be said.

"Okay, um. Hail the heir!"

His skin suddenly felt warm, a warmth he could only describe as glowing. The light swelled again, causing John to close his eyes tightly and shield his face.

Then the world came back. Looking down, he suddenly remembered his dream. His skin was pure white, he was wearing a blue hooded shirt with a wave symbol on it. His trousers were blue too. His gaze returned to the dog, who like before just looked at him.

"Wow! This is almost like that dream I had."

The dog came close, as if it was going to sniff him. Instead, the dog jumped up and pushed john out of the hedge and into the open for the birds to see. The now pure white boy sounded surprised and stumbled about until he regained his bearings.

The birds weren't the only ones who saw John emerging from the bushes.

From the top of a distant building they watched. Fidgeting nervously, biting their lips. Standing all alone was a figure also in blue, bearing a resemblance to a character from children's stories. The only difference was that he was grey, with a pair of large and long orange and yellow horns.

"Um... That isn't meant to happen is it?"

There was a shimmer behind the figure, it approached the ledge and looked at the boy below.

"Well, congratulations..."

The newly arrived figure said, causing the one in blue to give a slightly hopeful smile.

"You have successfully managed to create enough trouble to summon an Earth hero, you useless fuck."

"I...Uh? I what? ...How?"

He seemed to come over more nervous than he had been originally. The other, who was dressed in brown, snapped his head to face him while pointing to the so-called hero.

"Your fucking leeching's been so obvious that he's been summoned, you dripping nook! Because of you the Heir of Breath is here. I hope you're fucking pleased with yourself!"