Fan Fiction ❯ We Met in a Dream ❯ Wednessday, September 13 The waking world ( Chapter 3 )
[ P - Pre-Teen ]
By: Darialan 
Anime/Manga: Fan Fiction | Genre(s): Fantasy | Type: Other | Uploaded On: 05.11.2005 | Pages: 5 | Words: 4.5K | Visits: 141 | Status: Completed
Anime/Manga: Fan Fiction | Genre(s): Fantasy | Type: Other | Uploaded On: 05.11.2005 | Pages: 5 | Words: 4.5K | Visits: 141 | Status: Completed
("May the force be with you," is the property of George Lucas)
Darien woke suddenly. He was wet with sweat and he had a tear on the edge of his eye. `W-was that...real?' he thought. He shook his head vigorously. `No, that can't be.' Darien looked over at his clock. It was almost 7 o'clock. Time to get up.
Just then his computer beeped. He had left his instant messenger on all night with an away message. Darien got up and got dressed. Before leaving his room, he sat down at his computer and clicked on the flashing smiley face. It was a message from Zex46. Darien raised an eyebrow at the message and then his eyes grew.
Zex46: Your dreams are the same
As those in my game
You now share a dream
With others in each scene
If you choose to be brave
Her life you may save
I have one
You have none
The nightmare shadow scored
The dreamer has nothing on the board
He sat there for several minutes contemplating what the message meant. He found it hard to believe that it had anything to do with his dream last night. But there was no denying it. It had to be. He looked at his online list and noticed Zex was still online, but it showed that he was away. Darien typed up a message to leave him.
SilentSwordsman: What is this?
Seconds later, Zex messaged him back.
Zex46: You know exactly what it is. See you tonight. >=D
Darien gasped at this and logged off. Darien was sweating. This was the strangest thing. Even stranger than when he used to wake up in the middle of a nightmare and think something was in his room. Of course that was when he was a kid, but he still felt that that presence was real. After that last message from Zex, Darien's once lost paranoia returned.
He looked at the clock on his computer's system tray just before getting up out of his chair. It was already fifteen minutes after and which means he didn't have much time for breakfast, if he wanted to get to school before everyone else.
Darien headed for the kitchen where his stepmother had breakfast ready.
"What took you so long. Usually you're here and gone by now," Mika said as Darien sat down.
"A message was left for me last night," he replied in his normal low voice.
"Oh? A friend from school?" she asked
Darien shook his head, "Just someone I talk to on the internet."
"Oh. What about?"
Darien was silent for a while. Then he finally responded, "He just wanted me to read some poetry he wrote." He just shrugged.
"What'd it say?"
"I forgot."
Mika frowned. "You didn't keep it?"
"No. It wasn't that good," Darien said thinking about what Zex had left him.
"What'd you tell him?"
"Nothing. He was away, so I thought I'd talk to him tonight."
"Hmmm." Mika looked at her watch. "I think it's time you started for school."
Darien nodded as he got up. He picked up his bag and walked out the door as his step mom told him to have a good day at school, also telling him to make some new friends. She didn't like the idea that his only friends were on the internet. All of them were too far away for him to ever meet. Besides, she didn't know how she felt about meeting people from the internet. It didn't matter anyway, Darien never thought about meeting any of them, even if they did seem nice. He always had some excuse not to. One of them was that they probably wouldn't like him after they met him and another was that fear that his mother also had. That was that some of the people on their might be crazy or something. Darien sometimes thought that that was kind of silly, but still, it could be true, too.
Darien was half way to school when he turned a corner and saw an ambulance. He naturally was curious to see what was going on, so he ran up close. Before he was moved away from the scene he caught a glimpse of who it was being wheeled out on the stretcher. Darien stood there looking in the direction of the ambulance for a couple of minutes. It looked like the girl he saw yesterday. In his dream last night, her name was Yuki. He'd swear he had just heard someone just say her name. He didn't know what exactly was wrong, but she looked like she was asleep. Darien, though he had never really met her before felt such a connection to her that he started to feel a little choked up. This was the girl in his dream. This was really happening and what happened last night was also real. He couldn't shake of that feeling. As weird as it was, he knew he had really met her last night.
Darien was behind everyone else by now. He had spent too much time thinking about his dream and what Zex had sent him this morning, before he left his room. He also had spent too much time watching as the ambulance started for the hospital. He reached the doors of the school and went in. He was still a bit confused and was still trying to shake off the feelings that he had. Although he had accepted what happened last night. Logic still told him that it couldn't be. He decided he had just a few minutes left, which was enough time to walk into the bathroom. There he washed his face. He looked up at the mirror and rubbed his eyes, took a few deep breaths and walked back out.
He passed one of the 10^th grade classrooms and as he went by he could hear the teacher say, "Class, Yuki will is absent today. The ambulance picked her up this morning as you may have heard." His voice trailed off as Darien made his way down the hallway to his classroom. He sighed, took another deep breath and walked into the room.
A few of the students who heard the door open looked back at Darien. Darien hung his head as he walked towards his desk. Misato looked up from her notes and to Darien. "Darien, you're late. That's unusual," she said surprised.
Darien slowly walked to his chair and sat down.
Misato could see that Darien wasn't well. "Why are you late? Are you ok?" she asked, concerned.
Darien replied, "I'm fine," in his normal low and slightly nervous voice.
"Uh, ok. Ummm, on with our lesson, I guess," she said as she started to lecture. Miss Kumashiro went on with her lesson.
The morning classes didn't go quick. Darien found it difficult to focus. All his thoughts were now on Yuki. What happened to her? She wasn't dead? Was she? It was almost time for the bell to ring and he even started to sweat a little.
The bell finally rang and Darien rushed out to his normal spot at the tree. He stared at the empty spot at the bench, the bench where Yuki usually was. He looked down at his lunch and found it difficult to start eating. He looked back up to see Misato coming towards him.
"Darien. Hey," she called. "I normally eat in the teacher's lounge, but I'd really like to talk to you, so do you mind if I sit here with you?"
Darien shook his head.
The teacher smiled a little and sat down next to him. "You seemed a little trouble during class today. More than usual, anyway. Was there something wrong?" she asked him. "I know it's none of my business, but I want to let you know I care about you like I care about all of my students."
Darien just shook his head. He wasn't about to tell her this crazy story about how he dreamed about a girl and how he thinks it was all real.
"Darien, talk to me. I know there's something wrong."
Darien remained silent as he attempted to take a bite of his lunch.
Misato sighed, "Darien, I have something I need to tell you. Do you remember me talking about another student I would have liked you to meet?"
Darien looked at the sensei with some interest. He nodded. He wanted to hear whatever she had to say about her. He was hoping she was talking about Yuki.
Misato looked down to the ground and sighed. Then she looked over to Darien again. "Her name is Yuki Sonohara. They took her to the hospital this morning," she said. She paused a moment before continuing, "Her parents said she slipped into a coma while she was asleep."
Darien started thinking about the ambulance he saw this morning. He looked away, trying to hold back some tears. If she saw him crying, she'd wonder why. After all, Darien had never met her in real life. He couldn't hold them back. A few tears dropped from his face.
Sensei Kumashiro tried to look around him at his face. He could see a tear drop fall on his leg. "D-darien? Do you know her or something?" she asked confused.
Darien took a minute or two to compose himself. He knew he couldn't hide it anymore. He turned his head back around and responded, "sorta."
"Sorta?" she said, still confused.
Darien gulped and decided to give her the best explanation he could. "Not really. I saw her yesterday for the first time and she was sitting over there on that bench," he said pointing to the bench ahead of them. He then looked down to the ground and continued, "She looked sad. I saw the ambulance this morning as I was walking to school. I don't know why..." Darien sighed, "But I felt this weird connection to her. I can't explain it."
Misato brushed his head with her hand and sighed. "Things like that aren't that weird. They're actually pretty common. I know they seem weird, though. Darien, the reason I offered to help you meet her was because I knew you two were very much alike. I can just tell."
Darien started to smile. It felt good to talk about it, but he couldn't shake off what he was feeling. He turned his head away and closed his eyes.
"I think you should visit her," Misato continued to say. "I'll accompany you, if you want."
Darien just shook his head.
"No?" She sighed. "Ok, I'll let you think about it. But as soon as you change you're mind, tell me. Ok?"
Darien smiled a little and nodded as his teacher got up and walked away. He did think about it. But wouldn't it seem odd to walk in to her room and see her parents standing there, wondering who he is? What would he say? He could say he's a friend of hers, but what if she woke up? Would she acknowledge that? Darien shook his head. `Not yet,' he thought to himself.
He looked down at his lunch. He did feel better, talking to Miss Kumashiro. He sighed and started eating his lunch. He had just finished when the bell rang to go back to class.
Darien finished the rest of the day in school in a better mood than he had started in. It was still in the back of his mind though. He still couldn't shake it. He wanted to get back home fast. It wouldn't be too comforting, but he had to talk to Zex, if he was on.
When the bell rang he picked up his books and started off with everyone else, which was unusual. A couple of guys in the hall picked on him saying, "Hey buddy, don't have any of those creeeeepy nightmares, tonight." They laughed as they walked by, mocking him. He didn't quite often need to put up with it at this time. This made him really tense. Whenever someone made comments like that Darien's muscles would tighten up.
He just wanted to get out of there. He started running as he got out of the door. He looked back to see if anybody else was going to pick on him. He wasn't paying enough attention to where he was headed and he ran into the back of another student. He fell down, dumping his books. Darien turned is head back around after running into him. He looked down and bowed his head. "Gomen," he said closing his eyes.
"Hey. Hey. It's no problem really," he said. He had short black hair. Darien could tell he was one of the friendly sort. For one thing he wasn't very upset at him for what Darien had done.
Darien got on his knees and helped him pick up the rest of his books.
He stood up. "Arigato. My name's Otaru. You're Darien, right?"
"H-hai. But how did you know?" Darien looked at him puzzled.
"Oh, well, when the teacher calls on you in class, it's kinda hard not to remember your name. You're the quiet one."
Darien nodded his head.
"Uh-huh. Ya see? Hey, umm, If you want we could sit together at lunch. That is, if you don't mind."
Darien nodded his head again.
"Well, I better get home. My parents would wonder where I've been," he started off in the direction Darien usually walked to get home. "I'll see you in school, Darien."
Darien started to follow, since this is his normal route home, anyway.
"Oh, you go home this way?"
"Uh, hai," Darien said nodding his head.
"Funny, I've never seen you on my way home before."
"I usually wait till everyone's ahead of me."
"Ohhh. I see," Otaru replied, nodding. "Why's that? Do you have something special after classes or what?"
Darien shakes his head. "I just don't like people bothering me."
"Uh, Gomen. Am I bothering you?
"No."
"I see. Well, what do you mean by people bothering you?" Otaru asks.
Darien sighs. "I'd really would rather not talk about it right now."
"Alright, fine," he says. "Well, this is my house. You're welcome to come in if you'd like."
Darien shakes his head. "My mother would probably wonder where I've been."
"Ah, alright. Well, I'll see you tomorrow. Ok?" Otaru says waving as he goes in and shuts the door.
Darien could have kicked himself, realizing how cold he must have seemed. He sighed. `Well, maybe someday,' he thought to himself as he walked into his own house and shut the door. It wasn't like Otaru picked on him or anything. Darien was just afraid of being hurt again. He keeps his guard up by keeping himself reserved. Like a barrier no one can get through. Darien is able to shield himself from much of the harm people can do to him, but by doing so he also keeps out the help and the love of others.
His step mom greeted him at the door as usual. Also noting that he didn't bring home any friends. "Darien, when are you going to bring home a friend?" she asked.
Darien just grumbled and walked off to his room. He hated it. He just hated being asked that every afternoon. And this time was no exception. This time he was more frustrated. He was frustrated with himself for being so cold to Otaru and frustrated with his step mom not understanding him one bit.
Mika sighed loudly as Darien walked off to his room. She thought to herself about how to get to him. Getting upset about it didn't work. Being up and friendly didn't work either. She went to the kitchen to cook him dinner, but her heart wasn't completely in it. She sat down at the kitchen table thinking about. She decided to give it a rest for the rest of the night. Tomorrow would be different. She would make more of an effort. She decided to order out for the evening. She walked to the hallway, "Darien, I'm going to order take out tonight. What would you like?" she asked.
"Curried chicken and rice," he replied. He was at his computer on the internet, waiting for Zex to sign on. Maybe he'd be on tonight. Darien thought he should be. Zex did say he'd see him tonight. Darien sighed as he was still not on. Maybe it wasn't such a good idea to talk to him anyway. Darien just got more worried. He started once again to think about the dream from the night before.
Darien did a site search on dreams while he waited. He noticed a few psychology pages listed. They weren't quite what he was looking for awhile. He continued on down the list. Meanings of dreams, personal dreams, and even dream enhancing drugs were listed. Still not what he was looking for. He tried typing in "Dream Sharing" as a search topic. He did find sites about people that shared the same dream, but not really same dream world. They were still not what he was looking for. Darien sighed as he started thinking, that he must be going crazy. If this was really happening then he must be able to find someone on the internet that's experienced the same thing.
As Darien searched longer and harder, he found something that intrigued him. He noted the words "Dream Plane" and immediately clicked. This site was about a guy who told of his adventures with his girlfriend. The site continued on how they shared the same "Dream Plane" at night and that that was how they met in real life. "Weird," Darien said to himself. He skimmed on down the page a little bit to see what adventures they've had. "Wow, these 2 have seen a lot," Darien said. He slayed a dragon and saved her, she's had romantic dreams of them on a beach together, and it seems that they've even traveled space.
Darien continued on down the page to see what else the site could tell me. It said that they even proclaim themselves as "Dream Masters" which they go on to explain to mean that they've conquered any challenge that was put in front of them in the dream world. They even have their IM names listed. VentonValiant And CherishedDream were the names. Darien entered those names into his IM. They were away, but he left both of them a message.
SilentSwordsman: Hey, if you're on later, I'd like to talk to you about your
website.
Just then Mika called out to him for dinner. Darien went to the kitchen for his dinner. The curry was good this time. He hadn't had take out in quite awhile. It was kinda nice, not that Mika's cooking was bad though.
Mika spoke up. "Your dad is obviously still at work. I ordered for him, thinking he'd be home by now," she said, then sighed. "But I guess that's not unusual."
Just then He came through the door. Darien looked up. He smiled a bit. He was happy whenever his dad came home from work. It wasn't often he'd see him.
Darien got up from the table and met his dad half way to the door. "Hi, dad," Darien said.
His father, William gave him a hug. Darien kinda detested the hug. He felt he was too old to be hugged by his father. But he didn't resist. "How's my boy? Make any friends today?" he asked as they both headed to the kitchen.
`Why did they always ask that?' Darien wondered with slight annoyance. Darien just shrugged a little. His father didn't seem to notice.
"Good afternoon, darling," Mika said as she kissed Darien's father on the lips before the sat to eat.
"So, how's school Darien?" his father said.
Darien shrugs.
"He's like this a lot," said Mika.
"Hmmm," his dad said just trying to enjoy the food. He hadn't had much that day, because he was so busy with work.
Darien decided to make some conversation for once. Just to help keep them from nagging him. "Do you know why there was an ambulance just up the street, this morning?"
"I seemed to have heard something at work today about it, but I didn't get the whole story," his dad answered.
"Well, I heard that the girl down the road went into a coma," Darien added.
"Well, that's strange. I wonder what caused that," said his mother.
"I just heard that in school," Darien added.
"Any chance you know who it was?" his father asked.
Darien shook his head. "All I know is that her name was Yuki," Darien finished.
Mika smiled just slightly thinking about her son and how he never seemed to have friends. "Maybe you should ask about her or even visit her sometime."
Darien shook his head. "I don't even know her."
"Well, I hope she'll be ok," his father said.
Darien nodded. He had finished his dinner and excused himself from the table.
He left his parents to talk at the table and went to his room. When he got back to his computer he noticed that they had both left him a message saying that it'd be ok. He wanted to talk to the both of them, so they got together in a chat room.
SilentSwordsman: Hey, thought your site was pretty cool.
CherishedDream: Thanks.
VentonValiant: Thanks, a lot. I hope you liked our stories.
SilentSwordsman: Stories? Well, umm...
VentonValiant: Yeah, they're just stories. So how old are you?
SilentSwordsman: I'm 14.
SilentSwordsman: To tell you the truth I thought this was real. I mean I had this
weird experience last night.
CheishedDream: V, do you think he's one of us?
VentonValiant: yes
VentonValiant: What kind of experience do you mean?
SilentSwordsman: Well, last night I dreamt about this girl and she was
swallowed up by a shadow. The next day I saw an ambulance
down the street and I'd swear it was the same girl in my
dream.
CherishedDream: Hmmm. Tell me more about your dream.
Darien went on about his dream and how he felt this connection between his dream and the girl in the coma.
VentonValiant: Hmmm. I haven't encountered this, but I had a feeling that if
you are captured by a monster, shadow, or demon in this
"dream plane," you won't be able to wake up.
CherishedDream: I think she's probably waiting for you to rescue her, Silent.
SilentSwordsman: But, I can't.
CherishedDream: Of course you can. It's sooo romantic.
VentonValiant: In the dream world you can do anything.
Silentswordsman: But I can't. I'm afraid. I'm always having to run away.
VentonValiant: That's not good. If you continue to run, the shadows will
eventually get to you. You need to learn to fight. Just
remember, you can do anything at all in the dream world that
you can possibly think of. If you truly believe that, then
there's no way you can lose.
CherishedDream: That's right. You can run as fast as you want. You can have
Super jumping powers, and you can even fly.
CherishedDream: Would you like us to help you?
Silentswordsman: Yes, please. If it's no trouble.
VentonValiant: It's no trouble at all.
CherishedDream: This will be fun.
"Darien, It's time for bed," his dad said through the doorway.
Darien nodded. "Ok, I'll say goodnight to my online pals," he responded.
His father nodded and closed his door.
SilentSwordsman: Well, I've gotta get to bed. Goodnight.
CherishedDream: Goodnight, Silent.
VentonValiant: and may the force be with you. =p
VentonValiant: and don't worry. We'll help you.
Darien got ready for bed. He thought about how he could do anything he wanted to, just as he slid under the sheets. He couldn't comprehend that. He wished that he could have super powers in his dreams. And what he wouldn't give to be able to fly. He smiled as he started to feel a little more at ease. Minutes later, he finally fell asleep.
Darien woke suddenly. He was wet with sweat and he had a tear on the edge of his eye. `W-was that...real?' he thought. He shook his head vigorously. `No, that can't be.' Darien looked over at his clock. It was almost 7 o'clock. Time to get up.
Just then his computer beeped. He had left his instant messenger on all night with an away message. Darien got up and got dressed. Before leaving his room, he sat down at his computer and clicked on the flashing smiley face. It was a message from Zex46. Darien raised an eyebrow at the message and then his eyes grew.
Zex46: Your dreams are the same
As those in my game
You now share a dream
With others in each scene
If you choose to be brave
Her life you may save
I have one
You have none
The nightmare shadow scored
The dreamer has nothing on the board
He sat there for several minutes contemplating what the message meant. He found it hard to believe that it had anything to do with his dream last night. But there was no denying it. It had to be. He looked at his online list and noticed Zex was still online, but it showed that he was away. Darien typed up a message to leave him.
SilentSwordsman: What is this?
Seconds later, Zex messaged him back.
Zex46: You know exactly what it is. See you tonight. >=D
Darien gasped at this and logged off. Darien was sweating. This was the strangest thing. Even stranger than when he used to wake up in the middle of a nightmare and think something was in his room. Of course that was when he was a kid, but he still felt that that presence was real. After that last message from Zex, Darien's once lost paranoia returned.
He looked at the clock on his computer's system tray just before getting up out of his chair. It was already fifteen minutes after and which means he didn't have much time for breakfast, if he wanted to get to school before everyone else.
Darien headed for the kitchen where his stepmother had breakfast ready.
"What took you so long. Usually you're here and gone by now," Mika said as Darien sat down.
"A message was left for me last night," he replied in his normal low voice.
"Oh? A friend from school?" she asked
Darien shook his head, "Just someone I talk to on the internet."
"Oh. What about?"
Darien was silent for a while. Then he finally responded, "He just wanted me to read some poetry he wrote." He just shrugged.
"What'd it say?"
"I forgot."
Mika frowned. "You didn't keep it?"
"No. It wasn't that good," Darien said thinking about what Zex had left him.
"What'd you tell him?"
"Nothing. He was away, so I thought I'd talk to him tonight."
"Hmmm." Mika looked at her watch. "I think it's time you started for school."
Darien nodded as he got up. He picked up his bag and walked out the door as his step mom told him to have a good day at school, also telling him to make some new friends. She didn't like the idea that his only friends were on the internet. All of them were too far away for him to ever meet. Besides, she didn't know how she felt about meeting people from the internet. It didn't matter anyway, Darien never thought about meeting any of them, even if they did seem nice. He always had some excuse not to. One of them was that they probably wouldn't like him after they met him and another was that fear that his mother also had. That was that some of the people on their might be crazy or something. Darien sometimes thought that that was kind of silly, but still, it could be true, too.
Darien was half way to school when he turned a corner and saw an ambulance. He naturally was curious to see what was going on, so he ran up close. Before he was moved away from the scene he caught a glimpse of who it was being wheeled out on the stretcher. Darien stood there looking in the direction of the ambulance for a couple of minutes. It looked like the girl he saw yesterday. In his dream last night, her name was Yuki. He'd swear he had just heard someone just say her name. He didn't know what exactly was wrong, but she looked like she was asleep. Darien, though he had never really met her before felt such a connection to her that he started to feel a little choked up. This was the girl in his dream. This was really happening and what happened last night was also real. He couldn't shake of that feeling. As weird as it was, he knew he had really met her last night.
Darien was behind everyone else by now. He had spent too much time thinking about his dream and what Zex had sent him this morning, before he left his room. He also had spent too much time watching as the ambulance started for the hospital. He reached the doors of the school and went in. He was still a bit confused and was still trying to shake off the feelings that he had. Although he had accepted what happened last night. Logic still told him that it couldn't be. He decided he had just a few minutes left, which was enough time to walk into the bathroom. There he washed his face. He looked up at the mirror and rubbed his eyes, took a few deep breaths and walked back out.
He passed one of the 10^th grade classrooms and as he went by he could hear the teacher say, "Class, Yuki will is absent today. The ambulance picked her up this morning as you may have heard." His voice trailed off as Darien made his way down the hallway to his classroom. He sighed, took another deep breath and walked into the room.
A few of the students who heard the door open looked back at Darien. Darien hung his head as he walked towards his desk. Misato looked up from her notes and to Darien. "Darien, you're late. That's unusual," she said surprised.
Darien slowly walked to his chair and sat down.
Misato could see that Darien wasn't well. "Why are you late? Are you ok?" she asked, concerned.
Darien replied, "I'm fine," in his normal low and slightly nervous voice.
"Uh, ok. Ummm, on with our lesson, I guess," she said as she started to lecture. Miss Kumashiro went on with her lesson.
The morning classes didn't go quick. Darien found it difficult to focus. All his thoughts were now on Yuki. What happened to her? She wasn't dead? Was she? It was almost time for the bell to ring and he even started to sweat a little.
The bell finally rang and Darien rushed out to his normal spot at the tree. He stared at the empty spot at the bench, the bench where Yuki usually was. He looked down at his lunch and found it difficult to start eating. He looked back up to see Misato coming towards him.
"Darien. Hey," she called. "I normally eat in the teacher's lounge, but I'd really like to talk to you, so do you mind if I sit here with you?"
Darien shook his head.
The teacher smiled a little and sat down next to him. "You seemed a little trouble during class today. More than usual, anyway. Was there something wrong?" she asked him. "I know it's none of my business, but I want to let you know I care about you like I care about all of my students."
Darien just shook his head. He wasn't about to tell her this crazy story about how he dreamed about a girl and how he thinks it was all real.
"Darien, talk to me. I know there's something wrong."
Darien remained silent as he attempted to take a bite of his lunch.
Misato sighed, "Darien, I have something I need to tell you. Do you remember me talking about another student I would have liked you to meet?"
Darien looked at the sensei with some interest. He nodded. He wanted to hear whatever she had to say about her. He was hoping she was talking about Yuki.
Misato looked down to the ground and sighed. Then she looked over to Darien again. "Her name is Yuki Sonohara. They took her to the hospital this morning," she said. She paused a moment before continuing, "Her parents said she slipped into a coma while she was asleep."
Darien started thinking about the ambulance he saw this morning. He looked away, trying to hold back some tears. If she saw him crying, she'd wonder why. After all, Darien had never met her in real life. He couldn't hold them back. A few tears dropped from his face.
Sensei Kumashiro tried to look around him at his face. He could see a tear drop fall on his leg. "D-darien? Do you know her or something?" she asked confused.
Darien took a minute or two to compose himself. He knew he couldn't hide it anymore. He turned his head back around and responded, "sorta."
"Sorta?" she said, still confused.
Darien gulped and decided to give her the best explanation he could. "Not really. I saw her yesterday for the first time and she was sitting over there on that bench," he said pointing to the bench ahead of them. He then looked down to the ground and continued, "She looked sad. I saw the ambulance this morning as I was walking to school. I don't know why..." Darien sighed, "But I felt this weird connection to her. I can't explain it."
Misato brushed his head with her hand and sighed. "Things like that aren't that weird. They're actually pretty common. I know they seem weird, though. Darien, the reason I offered to help you meet her was because I knew you two were very much alike. I can just tell."
Darien started to smile. It felt good to talk about it, but he couldn't shake off what he was feeling. He turned his head away and closed his eyes.
"I think you should visit her," Misato continued to say. "I'll accompany you, if you want."
Darien just shook his head.
"No?" She sighed. "Ok, I'll let you think about it. But as soon as you change you're mind, tell me. Ok?"
Darien smiled a little and nodded as his teacher got up and walked away. He did think about it. But wouldn't it seem odd to walk in to her room and see her parents standing there, wondering who he is? What would he say? He could say he's a friend of hers, but what if she woke up? Would she acknowledge that? Darien shook his head. `Not yet,' he thought to himself.
He looked down at his lunch. He did feel better, talking to Miss Kumashiro. He sighed and started eating his lunch. He had just finished when the bell rang to go back to class.
Darien finished the rest of the day in school in a better mood than he had started in. It was still in the back of his mind though. He still couldn't shake it. He wanted to get back home fast. It wouldn't be too comforting, but he had to talk to Zex, if he was on.
When the bell rang he picked up his books and started off with everyone else, which was unusual. A couple of guys in the hall picked on him saying, "Hey buddy, don't have any of those creeeeepy nightmares, tonight." They laughed as they walked by, mocking him. He didn't quite often need to put up with it at this time. This made him really tense. Whenever someone made comments like that Darien's muscles would tighten up.
He just wanted to get out of there. He started running as he got out of the door. He looked back to see if anybody else was going to pick on him. He wasn't paying enough attention to where he was headed and he ran into the back of another student. He fell down, dumping his books. Darien turned is head back around after running into him. He looked down and bowed his head. "Gomen," he said closing his eyes.
"Hey. Hey. It's no problem really," he said. He had short black hair. Darien could tell he was one of the friendly sort. For one thing he wasn't very upset at him for what Darien had done.
Darien got on his knees and helped him pick up the rest of his books.
He stood up. "Arigato. My name's Otaru. You're Darien, right?"
"H-hai. But how did you know?" Darien looked at him puzzled.
"Oh, well, when the teacher calls on you in class, it's kinda hard not to remember your name. You're the quiet one."
Darien nodded his head.
"Uh-huh. Ya see? Hey, umm, If you want we could sit together at lunch. That is, if you don't mind."
Darien nodded his head again.
"Well, I better get home. My parents would wonder where I've been," he started off in the direction Darien usually walked to get home. "I'll see you in school, Darien."
Darien started to follow, since this is his normal route home, anyway.
"Oh, you go home this way?"
"Uh, hai," Darien said nodding his head.
"Funny, I've never seen you on my way home before."
"I usually wait till everyone's ahead of me."
"Ohhh. I see," Otaru replied, nodding. "Why's that? Do you have something special after classes or what?"
Darien shakes his head. "I just don't like people bothering me."
"Uh, Gomen. Am I bothering you?
"No."
"I see. Well, what do you mean by people bothering you?" Otaru asks.
Darien sighs. "I'd really would rather not talk about it right now."
"Alright, fine," he says. "Well, this is my house. You're welcome to come in if you'd like."
Darien shakes his head. "My mother would probably wonder where I've been."
"Ah, alright. Well, I'll see you tomorrow. Ok?" Otaru says waving as he goes in and shuts the door.
Darien could have kicked himself, realizing how cold he must have seemed. He sighed. `Well, maybe someday,' he thought to himself as he walked into his own house and shut the door. It wasn't like Otaru picked on him or anything. Darien was just afraid of being hurt again. He keeps his guard up by keeping himself reserved. Like a barrier no one can get through. Darien is able to shield himself from much of the harm people can do to him, but by doing so he also keeps out the help and the love of others.
His step mom greeted him at the door as usual. Also noting that he didn't bring home any friends. "Darien, when are you going to bring home a friend?" she asked.
Darien just grumbled and walked off to his room. He hated it. He just hated being asked that every afternoon. And this time was no exception. This time he was more frustrated. He was frustrated with himself for being so cold to Otaru and frustrated with his step mom not understanding him one bit.
Mika sighed loudly as Darien walked off to his room. She thought to herself about how to get to him. Getting upset about it didn't work. Being up and friendly didn't work either. She went to the kitchen to cook him dinner, but her heart wasn't completely in it. She sat down at the kitchen table thinking about. She decided to give it a rest for the rest of the night. Tomorrow would be different. She would make more of an effort. She decided to order out for the evening. She walked to the hallway, "Darien, I'm going to order take out tonight. What would you like?" she asked.
"Curried chicken and rice," he replied. He was at his computer on the internet, waiting for Zex to sign on. Maybe he'd be on tonight. Darien thought he should be. Zex did say he'd see him tonight. Darien sighed as he was still not on. Maybe it wasn't such a good idea to talk to him anyway. Darien just got more worried. He started once again to think about the dream from the night before.
Darien did a site search on dreams while he waited. He noticed a few psychology pages listed. They weren't quite what he was looking for awhile. He continued on down the list. Meanings of dreams, personal dreams, and even dream enhancing drugs were listed. Still not what he was looking for. He tried typing in "Dream Sharing" as a search topic. He did find sites about people that shared the same dream, but not really same dream world. They were still not what he was looking for. Darien sighed as he started thinking, that he must be going crazy. If this was really happening then he must be able to find someone on the internet that's experienced the same thing.
As Darien searched longer and harder, he found something that intrigued him. He noted the words "Dream Plane" and immediately clicked. This site was about a guy who told of his adventures with his girlfriend. The site continued on how they shared the same "Dream Plane" at night and that that was how they met in real life. "Weird," Darien said to himself. He skimmed on down the page a little bit to see what adventures they've had. "Wow, these 2 have seen a lot," Darien said. He slayed a dragon and saved her, she's had romantic dreams of them on a beach together, and it seems that they've even traveled space.
Darien continued on down the page to see what else the site could tell me. It said that they even proclaim themselves as "Dream Masters" which they go on to explain to mean that they've conquered any challenge that was put in front of them in the dream world. They even have their IM names listed. VentonValiant And CherishedDream were the names. Darien entered those names into his IM. They were away, but he left both of them a message.
SilentSwordsman: Hey, if you're on later, I'd like to talk to you about your
website.
Just then Mika called out to him for dinner. Darien went to the kitchen for his dinner. The curry was good this time. He hadn't had take out in quite awhile. It was kinda nice, not that Mika's cooking was bad though.
Mika spoke up. "Your dad is obviously still at work. I ordered for him, thinking he'd be home by now," she said, then sighed. "But I guess that's not unusual."
Just then He came through the door. Darien looked up. He smiled a bit. He was happy whenever his dad came home from work. It wasn't often he'd see him.
Darien got up from the table and met his dad half way to the door. "Hi, dad," Darien said.
His father, William gave him a hug. Darien kinda detested the hug. He felt he was too old to be hugged by his father. But he didn't resist. "How's my boy? Make any friends today?" he asked as they both headed to the kitchen.
`Why did they always ask that?' Darien wondered with slight annoyance. Darien just shrugged a little. His father didn't seem to notice.
"Good afternoon, darling," Mika said as she kissed Darien's father on the lips before the sat to eat.
"So, how's school Darien?" his father said.
Darien shrugs.
"He's like this a lot," said Mika.
"Hmmm," his dad said just trying to enjoy the food. He hadn't had much that day, because he was so busy with work.
Darien decided to make some conversation for once. Just to help keep them from nagging him. "Do you know why there was an ambulance just up the street, this morning?"
"I seemed to have heard something at work today about it, but I didn't get the whole story," his dad answered.
"Well, I heard that the girl down the road went into a coma," Darien added.
"Well, that's strange. I wonder what caused that," said his mother.
"I just heard that in school," Darien added.
"Any chance you know who it was?" his father asked.
Darien shook his head. "All I know is that her name was Yuki," Darien finished.
Mika smiled just slightly thinking about her son and how he never seemed to have friends. "Maybe you should ask about her or even visit her sometime."
Darien shook his head. "I don't even know her."
"Well, I hope she'll be ok," his father said.
Darien nodded. He had finished his dinner and excused himself from the table.
He left his parents to talk at the table and went to his room. When he got back to his computer he noticed that they had both left him a message saying that it'd be ok. He wanted to talk to the both of them, so they got together in a chat room.
SilentSwordsman: Hey, thought your site was pretty cool.
CherishedDream: Thanks.
VentonValiant: Thanks, a lot. I hope you liked our stories.
SilentSwordsman: Stories? Well, umm...
VentonValiant: Yeah, they're just stories. So how old are you?
SilentSwordsman: I'm 14.
SilentSwordsman: To tell you the truth I thought this was real. I mean I had this
weird experience last night.
CheishedDream: V, do you think he's one of us?
VentonValiant: yes
VentonValiant: What kind of experience do you mean?
SilentSwordsman: Well, last night I dreamt about this girl and she was
swallowed up by a shadow. The next day I saw an ambulance
down the street and I'd swear it was the same girl in my
dream.
CherishedDream: Hmmm. Tell me more about your dream.
Darien went on about his dream and how he felt this connection between his dream and the girl in the coma.
VentonValiant: Hmmm. I haven't encountered this, but I had a feeling that if
you are captured by a monster, shadow, or demon in this
"dream plane," you won't be able to wake up.
CherishedDream: I think she's probably waiting for you to rescue her, Silent.
SilentSwordsman: But, I can't.
CherishedDream: Of course you can. It's sooo romantic.
VentonValiant: In the dream world you can do anything.
Silentswordsman: But I can't. I'm afraid. I'm always having to run away.
VentonValiant: That's not good. If you continue to run, the shadows will
eventually get to you. You need to learn to fight. Just
remember, you can do anything at all in the dream world that
you can possibly think of. If you truly believe that, then
there's no way you can lose.
CherishedDream: That's right. You can run as fast as you want. You can have
Super jumping powers, and you can even fly.
CherishedDream: Would you like us to help you?
Silentswordsman: Yes, please. If it's no trouble.
VentonValiant: It's no trouble at all.
CherishedDream: This will be fun.
"Darien, It's time for bed," his dad said through the doorway.
Darien nodded. "Ok, I'll say goodnight to my online pals," he responded.
His father nodded and closed his door.
SilentSwordsman: Well, I've gotta get to bed. Goodnight.
CherishedDream: Goodnight, Silent.
VentonValiant: and may the force be with you. =p
VentonValiant: and don't worry. We'll help you.
Darien got ready for bed. He thought about how he could do anything he wanted to, just as he slid under the sheets. He couldn't comprehend that. He wished that he could have super powers in his dreams. And what he wouldn't give to be able to fly. He smiled as he started to feel a little more at ease. Minutes later, he finally fell asleep.