Chapter 3: The Dream Begins

Disclaimer: I don't own Blue Exorcist!

A/N: Important!

Hello! I'm very sorry for my absence, I have no excuse. Anyway, I'll be going on a series of trips during the summer and updating will be hard for me, so I've decided to only update My Family, Right? Until all of my trips are over. I'm sorry! I promise to make this chapter extra-long!

Italics = thoughts/singing

*Stars and italics* = *actions*

Bold = demonic speaking

Underlined Italics = what's happening/where

Previously

"Would you like to visit a place where you control everything?"

Rin nodded eagerly.

"Then, take my hand."

And Rin did so.

Bon was worried. Ever since Rin ran away from him yesterday, he hasn't woken up. He brought Rin back to his dorm and he continued to sleep peacefully. His breathing was heavy and labored. It seems as if he caught a fever. What's even weirder, is that Rin's hair seemed to grow to about waist length and man, does he look girly.

Bon took care of Rin to the best of his abilities, but it wasn't making a difference. Bon really wished Yukio were here right now. For some reason, the dude has been out on a mission ever since yesterday. Good thing it's the weekend now.

"Damn it!" Bon cursed and ran a hand through his hair.

He looked at Rin. What else can I do? He thought.

Just then, it hit him. Rin has been wearing the same clothes since yesterday. They're probably no good and very hot.

The thought of undressing Rin put a blush on Bon's face. He didn't know why though.

Rin is a guy! It shouldn't matter! He told himself.

Bon took a deep breath and started taking off Rin's shirt, he held his breath. It was off.

Holy Crap! Bon looked at Rin, really looked at Rin, and noticed that bandages were covering his chest, Rin seemed to be unnaturally skinny too.

Kami-sama! Bon took a step back. Are those…mounds!? Under the bandages?

Bon couldn't take it anymore. He quickly redid the buttons on Rin's shirt, until the door slammed open.

"…"

Caught red-handed. Bon paled instantly when he saw who was at the door.

"Bon." Yukio said in a sickly-sweet voice. "What are you doing to my Nii-san?"

"I was… " He trailed off, not being able to come up with a good explanation.

"You were what?" Yukio took a step closer, his aura coming off in waves. He was pissed.

"Yukio! It's just a misunderstanding I was just dressing Rin not undressing him or anything like that!"

Yukio paused, a contemplative look flashed over his face, before turning into an even darker look. "Why, might I ask, would Rin need to be dressed in the first place?"

Bon froze.

"I didn't see anything! I swear!"

"What exactly didn't you see?" Yukio smiled.

A groan reverberated across the room. The two figures froze.

"Rin!" Yukio was the first to react. "Rin!"

Yukio looked down at his big brother. "Rin…?" He noticed how long Rin's hair was and gave the locks a little tug. They definitely weren't extensions. To top it off, Rin looked sick, very sick.

"What happened?"

The mood instantly turned somber.

"Rin, after I went after him, collapsed in a graveyard by a monastery. He hasn't woken up since."

Yukio instantly understood. "Rin collapsed at his grave."

Bon looked confused. "Who's grave?"

"Our father's."

"Oh…I'm sorry."

"Don't bother. He died a long time ago." That was a lie. It wasn't that long ago. Long enough, though.

Silence filled the room. Bon knew he should leave, but something told him not to.

"Bon. Help me take care of Rin, will you? This happens a lot. She tires herself out to the point that she collapses for days, or even months. It doesn't happen often, the last time this happened was when…" Yukio couldn't complete the sentence, but Bon understood.

"Okay, I will." Bon answered swiftly, he didn't notice the slip in Yukio's words.

Time Skip

Light snoring was heard in the room. Bon and Yukio were currently asleep. Yukio in the bed with his brother, and Bon on a chair.

"I'm sorry, everyone."

Yukio jolted awake, almost falling off of the bed. Did he hear right? He looked at Rin and gasped.

A/N: Pardon for the intrusion, but this is where I start to refer to Rin as a girl once more. Also, this is supposed to take place immediately after Rin sang that song in her sleep. So, this part of the chapter goes from yesterday's events, to today when Yukio came home in the previous part of this chapter. Sorry, for any mind toggling this may bring you, I'll be on my way now.

Rin looked around, everything was white. White here, white there, white was everywhere.

"Is this place always like this? How is this the place where "I control everything"?" Rin asked, she was confused. This place didn't look like anything she imagined at all.

Yume laughed. "We're here. This is the place. Just, hear me out so I can explain the logistics of it."

Rin nodded.

"Okay! We're somewhere deep inside your mind, and I mean really, really deep. Here, no one will be able to disturb you."

"So," Rin cut in. "I'm like, in a comatose state right now?"

Yume nodded. "Sort of, except your body is awake, just not your mind. Understand?"

"Not really, please elaborate."

"Okay, here is you mind." Yume said, a diagram coming out of nowhere. "Here is your body." She pointed to Rin's brain and her heart.

"When you're in this state your mind shuts down on itself, but your mind will still send subconscious signals to your body, therefore controlling it and keeping it awake. Whenever you move in your subconscious body, your real body will move in sync with it. Your subconscious body is the body you're in now, it's not real, just a figment of your imagination. Notice any changes?"

Rin gasped as a mirror turned up out of nowhere. Looking herself over, she realized that her hair was longer, way longer.

"W-what?"

Yume sighed and continued her explanation. "You see, this world mirrors how the creator, in this case you, wants everything to look like. That includes your body. Remember, your subconscious body and your real body are linked. So, when you change your subconscious body, your real body automatically changes as well."

"But, that defies all logic!" Rin protested.

"Rin, this is a world where you control anything. Logic doesn't exist here. Anything else you want to say before we move on?" Yume asked.

"If my…subconscious body is linked with my real body, then am I moving around right now?"

Yume shook her head. "I was just getting to that. The thing is, you're not fully connected to your dream world. Therefore, you can only make changes to your physical appearance at the moment. You don't have complete control of all of this."

Yume gestured towards the white space all around them. "That's why everything is all white space, blank. In order to connect fully with this world, you must complete a…contract of sorts."

Yume paused and looked at Rin, making sure she was processing this information.

"In order to fulfill this contract, you must first meet the other occupants of this world. Believe me, there aren't many. My world isn't the only one, but we'll get to that subject later. Anyway, then you will have to promise me that you will not leave until I deem you are ready to face the struggles of the world once more."

Rin was definitely confused. Until she deems me ready to leave? Why would I want to go back? Isn't the purpose of this world to keep me happy and content here? Not make me want to go back to that God-awful place? She shook her thoughts away, in the end, she was just confusing herself even more.

"Then," Yume disregarded Rin's look of confusion. "You will have to pledge to leave all of your real world connections behind. Everything, your family connections, friend connections, everything. Understand?"

Rin very slowly and hesitantly nodded. All my ties? Everything? Even Yukio and…Bon?

She couldn't believe it. This world was so complicated, but yet so simple. She couldn't wrap her head around it.

"Now then, it's time to meet the other people, your new neighbors." With a snap, everything changed.

Rin looked around. She was in an amusement park. All of a sudden, a young boy was standing in front of her.

"Is this the new person, Yume nee-chan?" The boy asked. He had short, spikey black hair and chocolate brown eyes that were filled with pain that shouldn't be in a young child's eyes.

Rin smiled when the boy looked at her. "I'm Okumura Rin, what's your name?"

The boy smiled. My name is Fuuta! Mitsui Fuuta! It's nice to meet you Nee-san!"

Rin's heart warmed at Fuuta's smile and she smiled back.

"It's nice to meet you Fuuta."

"Ne, Rin-san. Will you visit my world a lot? It gets lonely sometimes. The other people don't like spending time with a brat like me…" Fuuta looked down.

"Of course I will! I don't think you're a brat at all…don't look so unhappy."

Fuuta's smile tripled in intensity and he literally jumped for joy.

"Thank you so much!"

Yume coughed and said, "As much as I hate to break up this heartwarming scene, Rin and I must visit the other occupants. Nice seeing you Fuuta!" Yume snapped once more and the scene changed again.

This time it looked like they were in ghost city. All the houses looked empty and old, it was really creepy.

"Bolivar? Are you here?" Yume walked forward with uncertainty. She didn't like it here.

"What." A guy popped out of nowhere. He had a sharp face, black hair, and glasses that covered his eyes.

"Bolivar! Meet the new recruit, Rin." Yume gestured beside her, where Rin was standing.

"Hello, Rin. I'm Bolivar. We're done here. Please leave." He said, none too politely.

"O-okay, come on Rin!" Yume grabbed Rin's hand a little too hard and gave her a sharp tug. She leaned over to whisper in Rin's ear and said, "This guy gives me the creeps!" And then they were gone.

This time they popped into a normal town. You could see people, fake people most likely, walking around. Houses and roads were everywhere.

"Where are we?" Rin looked at everything with wonder. It was the most normal looking world she's seen so far.

"We are in the made up version of a place called Namimori. This world was created by a young girl, her name is Naoko."

As if on cue, a young girl, looking to be about 12, appeared out of nowhere. She had long, dark brown hair and innocent, jade eyes which were slightly covered by her long bangs.

"Hi! Who are you? My name's Naoko!" The girl smiled, she had a little gap between her front teeth.

Rin smiled at the girl and said, "I'm Rin! Pleased to meet you!" Rin held out her hand for the little girl to shake, which she did.

"Hi Rin! Are you new here? I've never seen you before."

Rin nodded and Naoko's smile seemed to brighten.

"Welcome to my dream world! I hope you can visit often Rin-san!"

Yume respectfully bowed at Naoko and informed her that they had to go.

"Okay, please come back soon!" Rin chuckled at Naoko's eagerness, it was quite endearing.

Yume snapped her fingers once more and then they were back to where they started.

Rin looked around questioningly, expecting something to happen, but nothing did. "Was that all? I thought there would be more people."

Yume laughed nervously. "Yeah well, I wish there were more tenants, but that's all I have."

"So, there are others like you?" Rin asked thoughtfully.

"Yes, there are many people, well, things like me. I'm not the only one. Now, let's move on to the next step."

Yume held out her pinky finger. "Promise you won't leave until I deem you are ready?"

Rin laughed. "A pinky promise? That's all? No contract, blood pact, or anything mystical? Just a pinky swear?"

Yume huffed indignantly. "Of course there isn't! I'm no magician, and you don't have to sign a contract… unless you want too? Because I can arrange that."

"No, no, no, I'm good with a pinky swear." Rin laughed once more before holding out her pinky.

Yume took Rin's pinky into hers and then told Rin to cross her heart, which Rin did. Yume coughed. "It's time for the final step." A piece of paper suddenly appeared and Rin jolted, startled.

"Read this aloud." Yume commanded.

Rin took the piece of paper and then cleared her throat.

"I, Okumura Rin, promise from this day forth to remain loyal to this place and all of its other inhabitants. I promise to disregard ties from my past and to make new ones here. I will indulge myself in my new life here and simply have fun. My promises are sacred, I will not break them. If I do, proper punishment will be handed out. I will not hide anything from others, only the words of truth will come from my mouth. The world I make here is now the real world for me, nothing else exists but my world. I am forever grateful to the person who gave me this new opportunity at a happy life. I will not betray that person's trust. I will do whatever I can to make sure that the previous promises I have made will hold true. With these words, I conclude my pledge."

Rin looked once more at the piece of paper in her hands. Some of it was very contradictory. She had an unsettling feeling in the pit of her stomach. Despite all of these feelings, she didn't regret her decision. She will remain loyal to this world. No matter what.

Yume smiled. "Remember, don't move around too much. This body you're in now is still connected to your other body. Whatever you do here, you do in the real world. Now, please close your eyes. When you open them, your world will be exactly like what imagined it would."

Rin closed her eyes. She waited a little, taking a deep breath, she counted to ten.

One.

What about Yukio? My brother? Is he okay?

Two.

No! I left those connections behind.

Three.

I won't turn back now!

Four.

I'm sorry Shiro, please don't be mad.

Five.

Kuro, the only one who understood. I will miss you.

Six.

Bon…

Seven.

I bet everyone will be happy that I made this decision.

Eight.

No one will care that my mind is gone.

Nine.

Nonetheless…

Ten.

I'm sorry, everyone.

Rin opened her eyes for the first time in her own little dream world.

She gasped. It was lovely.

A/N: Back to referring to Rin as a boy.

Yukio's gasp woke up Bon.

"Oi. Are you alright? What are you looking at…?" Bon's sentence trailed off as his eyes followed where Yukio was looking.

"Rin…?" His eyes were open, but something wasn't right.

Bon took a sharp intake of breath. "Rin's eyes… They're so blank."

Rin's eyes stared off into space, it's like he wasn't there anymore. His eyes were devoid of all life. He looked so empty. His fever was gone.

"Rin?" Bon grabbed Rin's shoulders. "Rin! Wake up! Wake up!" He gave up after shaking Rin a couple of times. He turned towards Yukio. "We have to do something! Something isn't right."

Yukio nodded slightly. Bon grabbed Rin and slung him over his shoulder. Yukio shot up.

"We should take Rin to Mephisto. He'll know what to do." Yukio said.

Bon nodded. "You're right."

The two headed towards Mephisto's office. During the whole time, Rin tried moving his feet, as if he were walking somewhere? But where? What's happening inside his dream? Something is going on with Rin! Bon and Yukio didn't like the feeling that settled in their stomachs.

A/N: Okay, so this chapter isn't that much, if any, longer than all of my other chapters, but I tried! So don't get mad… Also, if you have any questions about my explanation about the dream world, please leave a review or PM me. I might not be able to get back to you right away because I'm going on a small trip, but please ask nonetheless. Thanks!

Did you notice the references I made in my story? There were two. Cookies to anyone who gets them.

Sincerely,

Krazypeople