Never-ending Wonderland
Maria sits down at her Computer, drinking a cup of tea as she reads up on the latest news.
“Aiden, did you see this? Apparently there’s a planet in the Galaxy that rains Diamonds.” Maria said to Aiden.
“No, I have not seen that. That’s pretty interesting.” Aiden responds back to Maria as he was repairing the sink of their apartment with his shirt tied around his waist. And sweat on his chest.
Maria looked over to watch Aiden work. “Did I ever tell you how incredible you look, babe?” Maria says to Aiden.
Aiden gets up from underneath the sink and wipes his forehead with his shirt. He then smiles at Maria. “Not in the past half-hour you haven’t.” Aiden said with a smoldering smile as he walked up to Maria.
He then wraps his arm around her waist and brings her in close to him.
His face gets close to hers as they both breathe in each other’s air. “I guess you should deal with me accordingly, Corporal.” Maria says to Aiden.
“I intend to.” Aiden responds as he pushes Maria against the desk that had her computer.
In the Computer Development Club.
“So what are these lines supposed to indicate?” Silvia asked Priya, a member of the Institute for Medical Software Development.
Priya points at the screen. “Well when these lines pike that means greater activity within Maria’s mind. When it dips, or more accurately levels out, that means a transitional stage or a point of inactivity.” Priya explained to Silvia.
“So right now she must be running some sort of Olympic event, maybe she is having a nightmare.” Silvia said as she looked over at Maria.
Maria was laying down in a separate room behind glass. She was connected to a large computer in the room via wires. Priya, a Sophomore, was testing her new device that would be used to resolve sleeplessness in patients with insomnia.
“These readings are unusually high, but not anything to worry about.” Priya added as she continued to take notes with the data she was seeing.
Aiden entered the room after grabbing Maria a bag of Halloween candy the Institute of Culinary Experimentation was giving out.
“Oh! Angeal! You are back already! That was fast.” Silvia said to Aiden. He handed her a bag of candy, and offered one to Priya.
“Thank you, but no thanks.” Priya said to Aiden.
“So, how long is she going to be under for this experiment?” Aiden asked Priya.
“Not much longer. She has already entered and exited REM sleep within the first 10 minutes of closing her eyes. Now she should be entering Deep Sleep. Once these lines level out completely we can go in and wake her up.” Priya responded to Aiden.
“It would be quite interesting to see the readings you put out if you were in Maria’s place.” Silvia said to Aiden with a small smile on her face.
“I’m sure there would be absolutely no indication that I was even ever asleep.” Aiden said to Silvia with his typical straight face.
The lines on Priya’s Monitor then began to jump back up.
Priya immediately tried to diagnose the issue. Silvia took notice.
“Something’s wrong?” Silvia asked.
Priya was checking the lines leading up to her computer. “Not wrong per say, just extremely unusual now.”
“How so?” Aiden asked.
“Well the indicators say that she entered another REM cycle, which she shouldn’t have for about another 90 minutes. So there must be an issue with the monitoring devices.” Priya said to Aiden.
“I can take a look.” Aiden suggested it to Priya.
“It’s fine, this is very delicate technology. Afterall you both are still freshmen, and not even a part of this Institute, so you’d likely have no idea where things are supposed to be.” Priya responded to Aiden.
Silvia and Aiden looked at the Monitor. Maria’s signals were increasing a bit more, and were lasting longer.
Priya got up from under the desk. “Okay, that might have been the issue.” Priya said before looking up at the monitors.
She looked visibly more confused.
“Was something supposed to change?” Silvia asked Priya.
“This is now becoming beyond unusual.” Priya said with a low voice. “You two don’t touch anything, I am going to ask for some help.” Priya said to Aiden and Silvia as she got up from her seat and left the room.
“What do you think that is about?” Silvia asked Aiden.
“If I can correctly surmise, the readings would indicate that Maria has now transitioned to a non-sleep state. Which shouldn’t be the case because she is obviously sleeping. So Priya felt the issue stemmed from her Computer, but she saw that was not the case.” Aiden explained to Silvia.
“So this is probably Maria’s fault, right?” Silvia asked Aiden.
“Probably. Or rather, the electric stimulus they gave Maria before putting her to sleep.” Aiden responded.
Back in Maria’s Dream.
Maria drove in her high speed racing car using her feet to steer. She had a bow and arrow in her hand and was shooting clay plates out of the sky.
“Maria ‘The Magnificent’ Li has taken the lead in this 100 Kilometer Derby! I have never in all my years of Announcing ‘Monster Madness Merciless Massacre Monday’ seen such an incredible performance. She is truly the Goddess of this Sport!” The Announcer of the Event called out.
The crowd cheered for Maria, and she continued to her next lap.
Aiden sat in the passenger seat of Maria’s vehicle.
“Looks like another 6 Clay Disks are about to shoot out from your right.” Aiden said to Maria.
Maria aimed in that direction. “Already seen them incoming.” Maria responded.
She squinted one of her eyes and shot and loaded six arrows crushing the disks.
“Amazing! While the other racers have to stop or slow down their vehicles Maria continues to travel full speed!” The announcer yells out with all of his might.
“You see that Aiden!? Another flawless shot.” Maria said to Aiden as she continued to steer with her feet.
“I wouldn’t expect less from my Girlfriend!” Aiden said with a gleeful smile on his face.
“And don’t you forget it.” Maria pointed her arrow at Aiden and laughed. They were clearly having fun.
Then the sky went red, and the cars behind Maria all crashed. Maria’s vehicle then vanished and she was caught by Aiden.
“Wait! What happened!?” Maria asked, feeling confused with how the world suddenly changed. She looked over at Aiden. “Is this a heavenly being’s action?” Maria asked Aiden. But he was no longer there.
“Aiden!?” Maria called out. The vehicles around her then caught on fire. “Aiden! Where are you!?” Maria called out.
Then a dark figure appeared behind Maria. Then formed into Silvia.
“What’s wrong Maria?” The imposter of Silvia asked Maria.
“Where’s Aiden? I mean, Angeal!? Have you seen him?” Maria asked Silvia.
“Angeal? Who is that?” Silvia responded.
“You know who Angeal is, the guy who was always around me.” Maria tried to explain to Silvia.
Silvia shook her head.
“You know who I am talking about! He is my best friend!” Maria loudly said to Silvia.
“Oh you mean the imaginary one we created as an experiment?” Silvia said to Maria.
“Imaginary? No he wasn’t imaginary.” Maria angrily responded.
“Yeah he was, you kept saying that you flew to different restaurants with him during lunch, and stayed at his house, and everything, but really all you did was go to the park and pretend.” Silvia explained to Maria.
Maria backed up away from Silvia. “No…” Maria then stood to her feet. “You are lying! He is real! I am going to look for him.” Maria yelled out.
“It’s pointless Maria. There is nobody by that name!” Silvia called back.
Then the people in the stands started to chant. “Imaginary! Imaginary! Imaginary!”
In the Lab Priya came back with a Junior by the name of Eva Dorey.
Eva immediately looked up at the monitors. “Hmm, that is odd. Let me take a look.” Eva rolled up her sleeves and went into the room that Maria was in.
Silvia and Aiden watched as the two tried to diagnose an issue.
“What do you think could be happening?” Silvia asked Aiden.
“I don’t think there’s anything wrong with their machine, I think it has something to do with the initial stimulus.” Aiden responded to Silvia.
“Oh, then they must have messed with her brain somehow. I wonder what she is going through.” Silvia said loudly.
“Knowing Maria, she probably has it under control.” Aiden said to Silvia.
Eva then stood over Maria. She checked to see if the suctions were secured to Maria’s head. She moved them slightly.
“Has there been any change on the monitors?” Eva asked Priya.
Priya looked over at them. “No, there has been no changes.” Priya responded.
“We should probably just wake her up, and diagnose what is happening without having someone hooked up to it.” Eva recommended Priya.
“Sure, that’s probably the best move.” Priya agreed.
Eva grabbed a bottle of gas and placed it over Maria’s mouth and nose.
Maria breathes in the gas.
The readings on the monitors then spiked.
“Whoa! This is not good!” Priya said, trying to keep the computer from overloading.
“What happened?” Eva asked Priya.
“Her state didn’t change, it was just amplified.” Priya responded to Eva.
Eva looked down at Maria.
“Why hasn’t she woken up?” Eva asked Priya.
“I don’t know, that gas should have pinched her receptors.” Priya said to Eva.
“So is she stuck asleep? Like in a Coma?” Silvia asked Priya.
“No, she is not in a Coma. Don’t worry.” Priya said to Silvia. “We may need to restart the device and just wait for it to reboot.” Priya said to Eva.
“I agree, there doesn’t seem to be anything wrong with the actual devices. We will have to check with the medical institute to see what sleeping stimulus they used.” Eva said to Priya. Eva left out of the room that Maria was in.
Priya and Eva then began to clean up.
Silvia looked at them confused. “Ah… so what now?” Silvia asked.
“The experiment is done. We can’t do any more testing.” Priya responded to Silvia.
“So, are we just supposed to let Maria sleep there? Or what?” Silvia asked quickly.
“You can leave her there or take her back to her room, she should wake up when her body wants to. We just no longer need her service.” Eva said to Silvia.
“Wow, unbelievable.” Silvia responded.
“What? Are we supposed to rebuild the entire machine to wake her up, then give her a cup of coffee and a foot massage. There’s nothing else we can do. She is just sleeping.” Ava said to Silvia.
“Just because you turned off your monitors doesn’t mean that those readings disappeared. What did they mean?” Silvia asked.
“Who knows, we have never seen anything that high. This is the first time we ran this experiment.” Ava said to Silvia.
The two argued back and forth to one another as Aiden went to the back and picked up Maria. As Maria laid in his arms Aiden tried to wake her up.
Back in Maria’s dream.
Maria was hiding behind some buildings as the crowd were trying to hunt her down. They blamed her for setting fire to her opponents during the derby.
“Where is the Demon Woman!” The crowd yelled looking for Maria.
“Aiden, where are you?” Maria cried softly to herself. Too scared to make a noise, fearing to be caught.
“Wake up, Maria.” Maria heard the sky say to her.
Maria looked around for that voice that sounded like Aiden’s.
“Is that you Aiden?” Maria asked.
“Wake up…” The voice said again.
“Aiden, where are you?” Maria asked.
“You are sleeping. You need to wake up.” Aiden’s voice said to Maria.
“I’m sleeping?” Maria asked.
“Wake up” Aiden’s voice called out.
“Well if this is a dream, then.” Maria said as she stepped out into the crowd. “I’m here!” Maria yelled out.
The crowd immediately shot arrows at Maria.
She sat up quickly inhaling as much air as she could. She felt around her body for the places she was shot.
After she checked, she felt immediate relief.
“Oh thank you! That was just a bad dream.” Maria thought to herself. She looked around, and saw that it was the middle of the day.
She was a bit confused. She was back at home, laying in her own bed. “When did I get back home…” Maria thought to herself.
“Maria! Lunch is ready for you downstairs.” Maria’s mom called up to her.
“Coming!” Maria responded. Maria jumped out of her bed and ran down stairs.
“Oh sweet! Deli Sandwiches!” Maria said, grabbing her a plate. Alison sat at the table already grabbing a second handful of chips.
Maria then grabbed it from it.
“Hey! What was that for!” Alison yelled out at Maria.
“Don’t eat all of them, you’ll get fat.” Maria said to Alison.
“Speak for yourself Fatty.” Alison responded by grabbing the bag too.
They both pulled for control of the snack.
Maria’s mom grabbed it. “Stop, you two behave. There’s plenty left for the both of you.” Maria’s mom said pouring Maria a serving and Alison a serving.
Maria jumped up and sat at the table.
“Do either of you have any Summer Homework left before school starts again?” Maria’s mom asked.
“Oh right, it is Summer Vacation. No wonder I am back home.” Maria thought to herself, as she took a bite out of her sandwich.
“I finished all of my Homework during the first week of Summer Vacation.” Alison responded to her mom.
“And what about you, Maria?”
“Remember, I’m in Highschool now, they didn’t assign us Summer Homework.” Maria responded with her mouth slightly full.
“That’s right, to Sequoia High School.” Maria’s mom said taking out some juice from the refrigerator.
Maria shook her head. “No, remember, I go to…” Maria began to say but she could not remember what it was she was trying to say. “… wait. I forgot my train of thought.” Maria responded.
“Probably all those video games you play, it’s rotting away in your brain.” Maria’s mom said pouring out the juice.
“No way, I placed in the top 5 of the school last year. If anything, I am becoming smarter.” Maria said to her mom.
“Ah, that reminds me. You can sleep over at your best friend, Leanne’s house tomorrow.” Maria’s mom told Maria.
“Awesome!” Maria cheered.
“Aww, so that means I can have the TV for myself?” Alison asked.
“Sure it does.” Maria’s mom responded.
“Nice.” Alision said.
Back in Reality.
Aiden and Silvia walked back to the dorms with Maria still in his arms.
“Is she really not waking up? She is not normally a heavy sleeper.” Silvia said to Aiden.
“This is definitely out of Character for Maria. She would not sleep through meal time.” Aiden responded to Silvia.
“They might have actually put her in a coma.” Silvia said to Aiden.
“That would be neglectful on their part.” Aiden responded to Silvia.
“I don’t care if they are upperclassmen, they should have had a back-up plan just in case something like this happened.” Silvia said feeling a bit upset with how the two spoke to her. Silvia then took in a few deep breaths. “But first, we just need to lay her down, and think of something. Since right now it looks like you are either carrying a dead girl around, or she is your girlfriend. Which neither are acceptable.” Silvia said to Aiden.
“I suppose so.” Aiden responded. As they both entered the Elevator.
Silvia and Aiden walked down the hall to Room 808. Ventus was waiting outside the door.
“Oh wow! What happened? Is everything okay?” Ventus asked.
“She is just sleeping, it’s nothing too serious.” Silvia said to Ventus.
“Sleeping? Why is she sleeping? Did someone drug her?!” Ventus said with some force in his voice, suspecting it were those upperclassmen boys again.
“No, it was for an experiment, nothing that malicious.” Silvia responded.
“Oh.” Ventus said softly. “So I guess I should be quieter.”
“That’s the thing. I don’t think it matters. She seems to be stuck asleep.” Silvia said to Ventus.
Ventus looked at Aiden. “And you couldn’t wake her up?” Ventus asked Aiden.
Aiden gestured his eyes to Silvia. Trying to indicate that Silvia doesn’t know what Aiden can do, and that Ventus should try to keep silent about topics like that.
“Oh, right of course.” Ventus responded. “Mind if I try something?” Ventus asked Aiden.
“What do you have in mind?” Aiden asked Ventus.
“Well what if Maria doesn’t know she is sleeping. If that’s the case then her brain will never try to wake itself up. Like if we were all in some sort of dream right now, we would have no way of knowing without someone from the outside entering in.” Ventus tried to explain.
“You have something like that?” Silvia asked.
“Well, I’ve been working on something for the past week. It was so that me and Angeal could share a dream, but he never wanted to try it out.” Ventus told Silvia.
“That’s oddly something we needed for an occasion like this.” Silvia responded to Ventus.
“What can we expect, I am always prepared.” Ventus joked as he went to Room 888 to pick up the device.
Back in Maria’s Dream.
Maria walks down the halls of Sequoia High School, she is carrying her books in front of her on her way to Literary Studies Class.
She then gets knocked over by a group of upperclassmen.
“Watch where we’re going, loser.” They say to Maria and leave her laying on the floor.
Maria gets up quickly. “Knock them all out for me!” Maria says aloud pointing at the upperclassmen. But then she realized that she was talking to herself, and wondered why she said that.
“You’re a strange one aren’t you?” A tall guy came, and handed Maria a sheet of loose paper that she dropped when she fell.
Maria grabbed the paper from his hand. “You don’t have to comment on it.” Maria says to the guy.
“You’re right. I didn’t need to say anything, but I just wanted an excuse to speak to you.” The guy responded to Maria.
Maria looked up at his face. He had the appearance of Aiden, but more Human in appearance. Maria snickered.
“Were you trying to talk to me because you have some sort of crush on me?” Maria grinned.
“Well, ah…” The Aiden look-alike responded to Maria. He was too nervous to actually answer her.
Maria then handed him her books. “You can begin by carrying this for me to my next class. Sounds good?” Maria said to the guy.
“Sure. I don’t have any problem with this.” He responded. They both then started walking with Maria placing her hands in her pockets.
“Ah, by the way. My name is Angeal.” He said to Maria.
“Ange what?” Maria said half paying attention to him.
“Angeal. I’m a freshman this year. I actually sit behind you in Calculus.” Angeal told Maria.
“Really? Oh, I didn’t even notice you. But…” Maria then quickened her pace and stepped in front of him. She blocked him from moving forward. “But, you do seem oddly familiar. Do you live close to me?” Maria asked Angeal.
“I don’t think so. I have only ever seen you in class.” Angeal responded.
“Okay, he must have been a different person then.” Maria said, dropping the conversation.
“Probably. I think I would have noticed if I lived close to you.” Angeal said to Maria.
The bell then started to ring. “Dang! Hurry up! I’m going to be late!” Maria said, rushing down the hall to her class. The hallway seemed to stretch as Maria was running down it.
She felt like she was not running as fast as she usually ran. Angeal then picked her up and ran with her on his back.
“Now we are getting somewhere!” Maria called out.
When she got into her classroom it suddenly turned dark.
She walked around the empty class. “We must have taken longer than expected.” Maria said checking the empty desks.
“What do you mean? We are investigating a demon sighting in the school.” Angeal said to Maria.
“Oh, you’re right. I must have been zoning out or something. So what did you find, my assistant?” Maria asked Angeal.
Angeal pulled out his notebook. “Well, we found black slime in the hallway leading up to the girl’s bathroom. Then we found a sigil that was written in blood in 1 of the trash bins. The sigil was partially burnt but we were able to track down the author of it to this classroom.” Angeal explained to Maria.
“Of course.” Maria responded. She then looked closely at the desks. “I feel like it is probably this one.” Maria said pointing to a random desk in the classroom.
Angeal walked over to it and checked the insides. He found a notebook with a list of magical spells. “Detective, I think you should see this.” Angeal said, flipping through the pages.
Maria grabbed the book. “How to summon the Demon King Baldor Alonuk. Write a pact with the Lord of Darkness in the signatory’s blood. Sacrifice…” Maria began to read. “This is damning evidence.” Maria told Angeal.
“What should we do with it now? It seems she already created the pact, should we look for the potential victim?” Angeal said.
“If I were to guess, they will likely either be in the lunchroom or the gym.” Maria responded.
“Why’d that detective?” Angeal asked.
“I just have a feeling.” Maria responded. They then began to run to the lunchroom.
“Come here! It will be over before you even know it. Don’t you want to be part of something greater?” The cursed girl said while holding a knife in her hand. She was looking for one of her classmates.
“Stop right there!” Maria yelled out.
The cursed girl looked at Maria and began running.
“Assistant!” Maria yelled out.
“Got it!” He said, jumping out at the girl. The girl stabbed Angeal and he fell to the ground.
Maria hurdled over him, giving chase. “Pitiful!” She said as she moved.
Maria followed the girl through the hall. “You can’t stop his emergence! He will cleanse the world of this evil!” The cursed girl said to Maria.
“I can stop it, as long as I stop you!” Maria yelled out and grabbed the cursed girl. “It’s over!” Maria said to her.
The cursed girl then began laughing. Maria looked confused. “It went exactly as planned!” The girl said to Maria.
Angeal then smacked Maria across the head with a cast iron pan and knocked her out.
Maria then woke up back in her bed suddenly. She was breathing heavily. She looked at her hands, and checked her body.
“Oh good. It was just a nightmare.” Maria thought to herself.
“Honey! Come down for Breakfast!” Maria’s mom called up to her.
“Coming!” Maria responded. Maria rushed down the stairs still wearing her Pajamas. She sat down at the table.
Maria’s mom pulled away her plate. “Brush your teeth first and change out of your PJs.” Maria’s mom said. Alison was already at the table eating her toast.
Back in Reality.
Ventus brought the device to connect to Maria’s head.
“So let me explain how this is going to work. We are going to translate your thoughts into the thoughts of Maria, so that you can control yourself within Maria’s mind. And we are going to transfer Maria’s thoughts to your head so you can see what is happening.” Ventus explained.
“What you mean is, that if we are connected to her, it’s only a copy of our thoughts going to her, and a copy of her thoughts going to us. So no direct contact?” Silvia asked.
“That’s basically it. I haven’t developed it enough for you to have direct access to her mind. So you likely won’t see any traumatic experiences or memories that she is not currently thinking of.” Ventus responded to Silvia.
“Interesting. And you wanted to use this so that I could see your dreams?” Aiden asked Ventus.
“Pretty much.” Ventus said, turning on the device. “Now, of course I can’t go in myself because I have to monitor the device. I’ll have to calibrate it to the languages of whichever of you decide to volunteer.” Ventus said, looking back and forth between Aiden and Silvia.
“Angeal, I think you should go in, you are her best friend and all. So you’d probably be able to navigate her mind the best.” Silvia said to Aiden.
“I doubt that Ventus’ device will work on me. And in terms of similarity, physically and likely mentally, you are more similar to Maria. So the translation process would likely run more smoothly.” Aiden responded to Silvia.
“I also think you should be the one to go in, Silvia. Just in case we have to move both Maria and the person connected, it would be a lot easier to have Angeal help.” Ventus said to Silvia.
“But who knows what kinds of thoughts are in Maria’s head. That’s not something I want to see.” Silvia responded to Ventus.
“I completely trust that you will know how to handle any situation Maria thinks about. Afterall, you are one, if not the smartest and most adaptable person in our entire class.” Ventus said to Silvia.
Silvia picked up the helmet. “Well, you aren’t wrong. Okay, I’ll go in there, tell Maria that she is dreaming, and she is going to wake up.” Silvia said to both Ventus and Aiden.
“Sounds great. Now just lay in your bed, and I am going to tie you down.” Ventus told Silvia.
“Whoa, why are you doing that?” Silvia asked.
“It’s just to make sure your muscles don’t cause you to run out the room, if you see something scary.” Ventus explained.
“Okay, well I trust you. Don’t try to get any bright ideas.” Silvia told Ventus.
“Wouldn’t even think about it.” Ventus said.
Silvia then calmed her mind as Ventus turned on the device. Maria’s head was placed into the other end.
“Now say these items in this order. Yellow… Strawberries… Telephone… Monkey… Fire… Airplane… electricity… Happy.” Ventus said, and Silvia repeated. “Good, it is now calibrated. Now I am going to send your thoughts to Maria, and transmit her thoughts to you.” Ventus said to Silvia.
“Sure.” Silvia responded. Aiden watched as the two handled the situation.
“And, safe travels.” Ventus said to Silvia as she now had access to Maria’s thoughts.
“Where on Earth am I?” Silvia thought to herself. She was in the middle of a park. The edges of the world seem to fade in and out.
Silvia looked around to try and find Maria. In the distance she found someone running back and forth in the pond.
“Maria?” Silvia asked.
“Oh no! They are hunting me!” Maria yelled out. She created a gun in her hand and shot at Silvia. Silvia ran and took cover.
“Don’t shoot me you idiot! It’s me, Silvia!” Silvia yelled out.
“Who?” Maria called back out.
“Silvia! You know, your classmates from Middle School and Highschool. We are friends with Angeal and Ventus.” Silvia tried to explain to Maria.
“Angeal? You mean the Demon Summoner from my dream?” Maria asked.
“The what?” Silvia was confused.
“Oh, you must have been his accomplice, and I was having a vision of the future. Well then I am going to stop you here and now!” Maria said, running out from her hiding spot to give chase to Silvia.
“Stop chasing after me! You are dreaming!” Silvia yelled out to Maria.
“I was, but now I know it was a vision! You get back here you murderer!” Maria said, shooting another shot at Silvia.
The bullet ripped through Silvia’s Arm.
Ventus and Aiden watched Silvia’s body to a noticeable jump.
“Shoot, I need a keyboard, or a laptop.” Ventus said, looking around.
Aiden handed Ventus Maria’s laptop.
“Thanks.” Ventus said, hooking it up to the device.
Silvia laid on the ground, now having been transported to their old Middle School. She walked down the halls, leaving a trail of blood behind her. She entered the bathroom.
Silvia washed her wound in the sink and tied it with paper towels.
“Dang, she is not listening.” Silvia thought to herself, trying to stay quiet.
“Come out, come out wherever you are!” Maria called out in the halls.
Silvia laid against the wall on the corner in the same direction of the bathroom door.
Maria walked down the hall and stopped in front of the bathroom. “Hmm, this is where we found the Sigil in my vision. I bet she is writing the Pact right now.” Maria thought to herself.
Maria opened the door slowly and looked in the bathroom. She couldn’t see anyone. Maria was suspicious and continued to keep looking for a few more seconds.
Silvia had her hands over her mouth.
“Guess it wasn’t this bathroom then.” Maria thought to herself. Silvia felt Maria around the corner. And her blood was beginning to soak through her bandages. A drop was beginning to form.
“Please don’t drip, hurry up and close the door.” Silvia thought to herself.
Maria then began to walk away from the door.
Then Silvia’s blood hit the floor.
Maria paused. “Something just dripped.” Maria thought to herself. Maria then opened the door again, and entered the bathroom. “I see you.” Maria said as she got closer and closer to where Silvia was. “No use trying to hide, I am going to blow you away when I see you.” Maria said, trying to intimidate Silvia.
“You have full control over yourself in Maria’s thoughts. If you are in trouble, just think of it and it will happen, for yourself of course.” Silvia got a message from Ventus.
Maria then turned the corner and pointed the weapon directly at Silvia. But there was no one there.
“Hmm, I could have sworn.” Maria thought to herself. She then started to kick down the doors to the stalls.
Silvia had turned invisible. “Thankfully that worked.” Silvia was relieved.
Maria continued to kick down the doors. Silvia slowly walked behind her. Maria then kicked down the last door.
“Rats! No one is here!” Maria said, confused. The world then began to change.
“Oh no!” Silvia thought. She then grabbed Maria behind her back and tried to get her in a full nelson.
Maria then started to fight back against Silvia.
“Get off me you Demon Summoner!” Maria said to Silvia. Maria slammed Silvia against the walls of the bathroom, but Silvia was not letting go.
“You are dreaming! Wake up!” Silvia yelled out at Maria.
“Get off me!” Maria yelled. The World then changed and they were both in a Subway Station across the world. In the middle of the train tracks.
There was a light at the end of the tunnel.
“What are you doing!” Silvia said, still holding Maria, jumping up out of the way of the train.
The two then started to wrestle on the ground. Silvia was trying to pull the gun out of Maria’s hand.
“Let go!” Maria yelled out. She then started kicking Silvia. Maria busted Silvia’s lip. Silvia touched her lip and saw blood.
“Okay! You asked for it!” Silvia said tackling Maria. She then started to punch Maria in the face. Maria grabbed Silvia’s hair and started returning punches.
“I am getting tired of you! Your dream is stupid!” Silvia said to Maria. As she continued to hit her.
“I don’t need to get lectured by some tool of a demon!” Maria responded. Maria then bit down on Silvia’s arm and Silvia pulled away.
“Whatever, I know this is a dream, so.” Silvia then started to create a fireball with her hand.
The people in the Subway then began to run.
“So that is the power the Demon gave you?” Maria asked. “I knew it.” Maria added.
“You know nothing!” Silvia responded. Silvia then shot the fireball at Maria. Burning her arm and tossing her to the other side of the subway.
Maria laid on the ground in pain.
Silvia then grabbed Maria’s shirt and charged up another fireball. “This is a dream after all, so it’s not like any of this matters.” Silvia said to Maria.
“If it’s a dream, then I should be able to do this!” Maria responded by sending out a shockwave knocking Silvia back.
Silvia now laid on the ground, she coughed up a bit of blood having impacted the concrete ceiling.
Maria then looked at her hands. “Oh, so this is a dream.” Maria said.
“Finally your thick skull understood.” Silvia responded. She collapsed on the ground.
Maria then came to her senses. “Wait!? Are you the real Silvia!? I am so sorry!” Maria said, rushing to Silvia and grabbing her.
“Just wake up. We can discuss this later.” Silvia said in pain.
Maria then blinked a few times and found that she was in Room 808. She had Ventus’ device over her head. She felt exhausted. Maria looked around.
“Am I awake?” Maria asked.
Aiden and Ventus looked over at Maria. “Welcome back to Reality.” Aiden said to Maria.
“How long was I out?” Maria asked.
“About 7 hours. You were just supposed to take a 30 minute nap.” Aiden said to Maria.
“7 Hours! Wow! No wonder it felt so long. I felt like I was in my dream world for years.” Maria responded to Aiden.
Ventus un-tied Silvia. She then got up immediately from her bed, and rushed over to Maria.
“I want to hit you so badly!” Silvia said to Maria.
“Hey, the dream you put up a good fight.” Maria laughed.
“It wasn’t the dream version of me, it was the actual me. I went inside your dream to wake you up!” Silvia said to Maria.
“Really! How?” Maria asked excitedly.
“Ventus created a device that translates your thoughts to someone one and translates their thoughts to you. So essentially, you were able to interact with one another in the dream.” Aiden explained to Maria.
“That’s awesome, Ventus! Now that you know it works. What are you going to do with it?” Maria asked Ventus.
“Not sure. It has a few issues, like how there can only be one driver. If I made it better, I could have given Silvia control of your dream. But I suppose I can add that in a future update.” Ventus responded.
Silvia then felt her lip again. “Good. The damages you did didn’t translate to the real world. Why on Earth did you shoot me!?” Silvia asked Maria.
“I thought you were the enemy to the planet. I had to do what needed to be done.” Maria tried to explain.
“You didn’t remember my face?” Silvia asked.
“Honestly, everything felt clear in the dream, but still had a bit of fuzz. I am barely remembering what I even was dreaming about.” Maria responded.
“Well, if we ever do this again, you are going to let me shoot you. Then I am going to say we are even. You were like some sort of serial killer in your dreams. How do you even get a good night’s rest.” Silvia asked.
Maria shrugged.
Ventus then started to pack up his device. “Looks like the future is now on the correct path, so I can put this away for now.” Ventus said to the group.
Aiden then stood up in front of Ventus.
“That was impressive. There wasn’t much I could do, but you found a solution for it. Maybe I will give your device a try.” Aiden said to Ventus.
Ventus looked down and saw Aiden’s hand. Ventus grabbed it.
“Then it’s a plan.” Ventus responded. Then he began to exit the room.
“Wait, I’ll come along with you.” Silvia said to Ventus. Then the two of them walked down the hall discussing the future plans with the device.
Maria and Aiden were in Room 808 alone.
“So, why didn’t you come in there and rescue me, or better yet, why did you allow me to sleep that long?” Maria asked Aiden.
“I attempted to wake you up, but your body just refused to even attempt to get up. It was no longer in a coma state, it just wasn’t registering that you could wake up. And I didn’t rescue you because I doubt that Ventus device would work on me. And with Silvia in the room, there would have just been unnecessary questions.” Aiden told Maria.
“These are fair points. But what I really think is your true reason, is that if you were in my dreams, I would have had more Abilities and Powers than you.” Maria said to Aiden with a devilish smile on her face.
“I don’t think that is true.” Aiden said to Maria.
“How can you have more power than me in my own dream? There’s no way. We are just going to have to use Ventus’ device to see if that’s true.” Maria joked with Aiden.
“I am not interested in testing that. I would rather be a passive observer. And there is nothing I can learn from your dreams. I already know everything there is to know about you as your best friend.” Aiden said to Maria.
“Maybe. But the you that was in my dream was pretty pathetic. Not saying that’s how I think of you… but I can imagine the situation playing out exactly the same.” Maria laughed.
“Certainly.” Aiden then stood up. “You must be hungry. Do you want to go out to eat?” Aiden asked Maria.
Maria felt her stomach. “Actually, I am pretty hungry. I am in the mood for something hefty.” Maria described to Aiden.
“Then I will take us to a late night steak house then.” Aiden said to Maria. He then began to wake out of room 808.
Maria was alone in the room. She looked around, still feeling suspicious. She pointed her hand out. “Fireball go!” Maria said to herself. But nothing came out.
She then grinned at her own hand. “I guess this is reality.” Maria thought. “Hey wait up!” She called out to Aiden as she gave chase.
Then the door to Room 808 began to shut. Then a small spark of fire appeared where Maria tried to summon it. Then the door closed completely.
MV Studios 