Hunt. Hide. Eat. Sleep. Try to, as least, survive. That is my life now, a life I had never expected for myself. But I guess fate decided to play a little game with me.

I walk to the place I sleep and organize the few things I have left: the Hunsclan laser weapon, a rope, and my mission clothes. I'm wearing these clothes for God know how much time; and, therefore, I must stink, but I guess I got used to the smell.

Suddenly, what I could expect the least happens. I see a portal opening in the sky; and some kids, a teenage girl, a platypus and a doctor run before my eyes. They run towards another portal they have just opened with a kind of remote control and, before I can do anything, say anything, they disappear; as well as my only chance to get out of here. Everything went so fast I didn't even have time to think, and now I've lost a chance in a billion; the chance to go home, to tell my parents I'm alive, to tell my friends I missed them, to tell everyone I love I'm alright. But if I had the chance to make them move on, I would; because I'm not sure if I will return.

I'm not sure if I will return! That's it! The reason why my mind wasn't able to create another Jake to meet me in my dreams is that I lost hope. But after what I just saw, I guess I should, at least, try – something I stopped doing a long time ago.

—

I'm now at the Dreamscape corridor; and I know exactly whose door I have to look for. I take a few steps forward and the ground starts to shake a little, like a drumbeat. The more steps I take, the stronger it gets; and I notice it's actually caused by music. When my eyes spot the right door, the sound can be clearly heard as a 1950s disco song; and a smile grows on my face: he's dreaming he's young again.

My hand touches the cold door handle and, as soon as I open the door, a new scenery appears before my eyes: people dressed for the 1950s, dancing, drinking, talking. The place is huge, a little dark; and red and blue lights flash here and there. There's a couple of people in a corner, shouting something together, multiple times. I walk towards them and notice what they're shouting. I'm in the right place.

"GO LAO SHI, GO LAO SHI". They chorus. I try to get to the center of their circle, pushing someone each second, because they are too close from each other. When I finally do it, I see Jake's grandpa, Luong Lao Shi, dancing like I had never seen him dancing before. His hair is black and he's shirtless. He jumps, turns around, goes upside down; and other things I learned how to do only at my fighting classes. For a moment, I get hypnotized by his moves; but I think it is more by the sensation of seeing him again. Or, almost.

I wake up from the dance and remember what brought me here, at first place. So I get closer to him and, trying to avoid being kicked or punched, I shout for him to hear me.

"GRAMPS?"

"Oh, HEY ROSE!" He shouts back when he sees me. "Come to join us!"

"No, Luong, please, listen to me, it's important!"

"But what's more important than having fun?!"

"What?!" I'm stunned. He's so like 13 years old Jake…

"I need to talk to you! Alone!" The place gets noisier and noisier. "CAN WE TALK?! PLEASE?!"

He rolls his eyes and says "Excuse me!" to the crowd, that replaces him by another guy that seems to have jelly instead of bones. We get to quieter corner.

"What do you want?!"

"I want you to help me."

"Of course you want that! Look at your clothes!" I look down and see I'm wearing my mission outfit. "Let me fix that" he snaps his fingers and, suddenly, I'm wearing a red old dress.

"That's not what I meant! I'm real! I came to talk to you, I got into your dreams; I'm not your mind's creation!"

He stands looking at me, with his eyes wide open; and for a moment, I really think he believes me… But some seconds pass by and he bursts into laughter.

"I think you drank too much!" He says. "And how could you possibly be THE Rose? She's dead right now. There's nothing you can do. You're just my imagination." He makes a gesture with his hands. "Now, why don't you just enjoy the party? See that elephant over there? He's so alone, you should go and talk to him."

Ok, now I'm angry.

"Okay, now LISTEN!" I grab his shirt, although he wasn't wearing it seconds ago, with one hand and he's raised from the ground. "Do you remember me?! Rose! I got lost in another dimension! I talked to you in your dreams for a while, but then I stopped, because I lost any hope I had to get back home. I'm Adam and Ann's daughter. I love your grandson." I could feel the tears coming. "I- I… I need you to answer some questions I want to ask you. Please..." I can't take it anymore and start crying. I let him go and cover my face with my hands. He won't recognize me. No matter how hard I try, he thinks I'm dead, they all think I'm-

Someone's touching me. With no warning, I feel a hand on my head; and raise my head quickly, to meet his eyes, that now are different. They have concern, responsibility, age and wisdom. He touches my bracelet and we are transported to the grey corridor; and I hug him right away.

"Thanks God" I whisper.

"What happened?!" He asks me "We all thought you were dead!"

"Well…" I say, as I pull back the tears and let go from his hug. "I'm not."

"You have no idea how happy they will be when- "

"No! Don't. Don't tell them. Jake, specially. Don't tell him I'm alive. It's… better if they move on. I'm not sure if I will go back." I look down, not trying to hide my sadness.

He has no words for a while.

"Once, I was training Jake and he did everything as he was supposed to do. Everything. He was so concentrated, so determinate. And when I asked him why, he answered it was nothing. But at night, while he slept, he said your name. Multiple times."

Now it's my turn to lose my words. I could barely believe it. He was…

"Training to get you back, he was. Every day, he tries to find ways to get to you. He's not so sad anymore; there's a light in his eyes. You make him stronger."

"No, I distract him! You said it once, remember? Said that our relationship was distracting him. And a distracted dragon…"

"… Is a slain dragon, I know. But I was wrong. That was just a phase; and I should have known that. I should have understood that he was just a teenager; I'm sorry."

"You don't have to be sorry. I know you were concerned about his safety. But I don't want to give him high hopes."

"Right…" He nods.

"And… what about my parents?"

"They think you were kidnapped. We couldn't tell them the truth, since it would be a huge cultural shock; and a great danger to all of us. I'm sorry…"

"That's fine." I lie. "I understand." And I think about my parents, alone, thinking the worst about what happened to their daughter.

"But what did you want to ask me?" He asks me, suddenly.

"Oh, yes. Yesterday I saw a few people that managed to open a portal to the dimension I was and open a new portal to get out of there, using a kind of remote control; but I was too late, and they were already gone. Do you know anything about it?"

"Not at the moment, unfortunately, but will search for it, that's for sure." He takes a pause. "Will you be fine?"

I take a deep breath. "Yes…" I say. I'm such a liar.