One Little Spark Pt. 1 - Chapter 31

“It’s a real honor to meet you, Mr. Dreamfinder.” said Dr. Channing with ecstasy. “You, as well, Figment.”

         The moment Dr. Nigel Channing comes in with his pleasant attitude, everyone but Rachel starts to feel a deceiving sense of warmth in him. His attitude seems harmless enough to describe him as one of the friendliest people alive. Even the handshake he has with both Figment and Dreamfinder gives away the amiable personally he must have.

“I cannot tell you how much I have always admired your work and your story and how much I wanted to meet you and get to know you. That is, before and after the incident that happened the last time you were here.”

“Yes, yes. That was quite a mess,” said Dreamfinder, with a blush of embarrassment “but the fear receded and everything worked out all right in the end.”

“It has indeed! And even better, since the past events we’ve been conducting our research seeing how all this dream power is made and what it’s made of.”

“Uh…isn’t it obvious?” Figment asks. “Dream power…made of dreams…made from peoples’ imagination? It’s no rocket science.”

“Well, yes.” said Dr. Channing. “That IS true. But I believe there is something more to this dream power than just what you and Mr. Dreamfinder have found. No offense.”

“Oh, you’d REALLY LOVE TO KNOW THAT, wouldn’t you?!” Rachel shouts, angrily, behind the crowd.

         That outburst has shocked everyone in the room. Their heads turn straight to Rachel with a look that each says, “What was heck?” The room grew dead silent. They all watch Rachel stand by the Chairman’s desk sweating and flustered with anger and embarrassment. Her eyes are twitching and her breaths have swiftly shortened. The sweat in Rachel’s hair is making it build up to its frizziest.

“I…I gotta go.” said Rachel in a panicky, breathy, gasping voice.

         Rachel storms out of the room in a quick pace. The tension building in the office with everyone staring at her like she’s a kind of psycho woman is beginning to really weigh down upon her. As she quickly passes by, both Figment and Dreamfinder realize how weird Rachel has been acting since they’ve gotten here. Though, neither of them can understand why this is happening now, especially at a time when they are trying to enroll an incredibly intelligent applicant to the academy. The door swings wide and slams very loud behind her, leaving everyone else in the room in a state of vast confusion. Only Dreamfinder was able to break the silence for everyone.

“Uh…she’s says it’s the…uh, Florida heat.” Dreamfinder abides. “I’ll just…uh, I’ll be right back.”

         Dreamfinder runs out of the room after Rachel, exposed to the light blue lighting illumination from the glass ceilings of the academy. He gently closes the door behind with, leaving with only Figment, Fye, Alex, the Chairman and Dr. Channing alone. The looks on everyone’s faces can only declare that what just happened cannot be explained. Not well, at the very least.

“So…Alex.” the Chairman starts, ignoring the events of Rachel’s outburst. “Do you…know any good sports?”

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         The poor Rachel speed walks away from the Chairman’s office towards the nearest water fountain. Without hesitation, she presses the button on the side and gulps up the water spouting out. She hangs her head down with her shoulders scrunched up and leaning her body forward toward the fountain. Her breaths have become both fast and short. Her hands tremble to the point of clenching onto the fountain’s sides. Whatever is happening to her right now, it’s making her a mess.

“What is wrong with you?!” Dreamfinder yells.

         The Dreamfinder suddenly appears behind Rachel from the Chairman’s office, but she doesn’t turn back to see him. She sighs with defeat. His muscles tense with great anger building inside. The sight he had witnessed in seeing Rachel yelling at a college professor has mortified him. Rachel, however, has seen that the sight of Dr. Nigel Channing showing up out of nowhere is already mortifying enough.

“I can tell you’re upset.” Rachel sighs.

“I’m WAY past upset!” Dreamfinder shouts, angrily. “Yelling at a college professor? Slapping the Chairman?! Do you not realize what you’ve done?”

“Look. Slapping the Chairman…well, yeah, you’re right. That was really uncalled for and I’m sorry I did that. Really, I am. But Dr. Channing is whole different matter here. I don’t trust him one bit!”

“Why? Do you know him?”

“I can’t say anything, Dreamfinder! Believe me, you’re better off not knowing about it.”

“About what? For all I know, you’ve just met the guy and you’re already ruining your chances of a good first impression. Do you not realize how much embarrassment you’ve caused me to feel in there? What you did in there was FAR below low, even for you!”

“YOU DON’T KNOW ME, DREAMFINDER! YOU DON’T KNOW THE SLIGHTEST THING ABOUT ME AND I DON’T WANT YOU TO! EVER!”

“…”

“No, Dreamer. I’m…I’m sorry.” Rachel stammers. “I didn’t mean—”

“No, you know what?” Dreamfinder calmly interrupts. “I don’t care anymore. All I wanted was to show you a small, but important piece of my life and all you’ve done is just embarrass me in front of all my friends. I couldn’t even stand to look at Figment with the look I had on my face and HE is my best friend! If the Florida heat is really the problem you’re having here, okay, fine. I can put up with it and help make you feel more comfortable. Otherwise, whatever this is really about to you, I have a lot of thinking to do of whether I should keep you with me or let you go.”

“I…I understand, Dreamfinder.”

“Oh really? You do?”

“Yes, I do! You can kick me out of your adventures through imagination and never see me again for as long as you live all you want, but get this: if I were you, I’d be more worried about Dr. Channing than me. Like I said, I can’t say anything. But please, for me, watch out for him! He’s not as good of an apple as he looks.”

“Not good? How?”

“You remember how I felt about King KaZing being some kind of creep back in Fillidore? Well this is worse, WAY much worse!”

“Rachel, I appreciate your concern. But until you actually tell me why you feel this man isn’t to be trusted, then as one Scientifica-Lucidus professor to another, I HAVE to trust him.”

“…No, you don’t.”

         Unsure of what to say back, Dreamfinder abruptly attempts to leave Rachel behind and heads back to the Chairman’s office. His hands turn to fists, clenching with an upsetting rage as they swing with every step he takes. The larges steps he makes signal his great need to get as far away from this problem as possible.

         Suddenly, the Dreamfinder bumps into another student. She was carrying a sketchbook and a pack of colored pencils, but drops them in colliding into Dreamfinder. Like an explosion of fireworks, the pencils drop to the ground, bounce off the tips of either sides in an array of colors, and roll inches away from one another forming a sea of wooden sticks with colored lead. The sketchbook falls down and hits the ground half open, bending the pages to a creasing.

“Oh, excuse me!” Dreamfinder exclaims.

“No, I’m sorry.” said the girl, shyly.

         Like Capri, the girl Dreamfinder has bumped into is dressed like a student attending the Academy Scientifica-Lucidus with her gray jacket and skirt, red tie, white shirt, white socks and black shoes. The only additional fashion she has is a strange, but lovely silver pendant, glistening like a diamond in the sunlight. Her slightly rounded-heart shaped head has a natural blush on her cheeks and a rosiness in her small refined nose. To match, her pink eyebrows and long and luscious salmon pink hair and bangs drapes down to her lower back like a cascade of pink lemonade. Her up-turned eyes house her gray irises that gleam like a light of a soft moon, silvering over the evening of life. And finally, if she smiles big, her pink shaded lips surround her pearly white teeth.

“No, really. I didn’t see you right there.” Dreamfinder stammers, as he tries to pick up the colored pencils.

“Dreamfinder!” the girl exclaims, picking up her sketchbook.

“Runa? Oh, Runa! Hello!”

“Long time no see!”

“So, what? Are you replacing me now?” Rachel asks

“No, Rachel, I am not. This is Runa.” said Dreamfinder. “She’s a student of the academy.”

“Hi.” Runa says in a shy tone.

“Nice to meet you.” said Rachel with a smile.

“Forgive me, girls, but would you mind I excuse myself. I have some business with the Chairman right now.”

“Of course.” said Runa.

         Dreamfinder leaves the two girls alone and heads back to the Chairman’s office. Apparently, the frustration in him is still intact. As they watch Dreamfinder disappear, the girls drew closer together in their newfound loneliness. The only thing that came out a lot louder than Dreamfinder’s stomping and angered tone is the sound of him slamming the door behind him on the way back in with Figment and the others.

“So, how did you meet Dreamfinder?” Rachel asks Runa.

“It was a year ago…the last time Dreamfinder and Figment came here.” Runa replied.

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                                                           …One Year Earlier…



         It was at the end of a school day at the Academy Scientifica-Lucidus, but not just any school day. It was the first very first day both Dreamfinder and Figment had entered the 21st century and arrived at the new location in Florida after saving London from the invasion of the Articulate Army. The students and staff, including Fye, watched in awe of the Dream Machine lowering down to a safe landing on the school property and out coming Dreamfinder and his little dragon friend to greet them. Everyone except for Chairman Auckley believed that these two visitors were the real deal, so they had to prove that and how much better dream power is. To do it, Dreamfinder decided to show dream power in action by riding the Dream Machine across the academy. Unfortunately, that didn’t work out so well. The Dream Machine crashed into the geodesic sphere, Dreamfinder jumps off, Figment saves him and then they both get a strict verbal attack from the Chairman. While the janitors started collecting the remnants of the Dream Machine to fix the Dream Machine with, Fye escorts the two of them to his office away from the Chairman’s harshness.

“I know that didn’t go as planned,” said Fye, with a voice of confidence, “but we’ll let it lie for now. You two can impress the whole Academy with dream power tomorrow, okay?”

“Yeah. Sure…” Dreamfinder said in defeat from the failed demonstration.

“Just stay here. I’ll go get the janitor to collect up the machine bits in the yard so we can put it back together.”

“Okey-dokey.”

         With his cane at hand, Fye leaves the office leaving his two old friends behind to help make themselves comfortable while he’s gone. This sudden failure in dream power has overwhelmed both of the two heroes, especially Dreamfinder. He slowly walks up to the window and looks outside. The Sun is setting in the horizon behind the purple-shadowed giant sphere. The sky is painted in orange sprinkled with dabs and blots of red and purple clouds. Whatever is left of the Sun is peeking over the vast forest of palm trees to the academy. It was a complete spectacle for Figment, seeing as how he has never seen a sunset before. As beautiful as this sunset is, the Dreamfinder saw this as an omen of this new reality folding over him like a new shape in an origami. His face is glum, his eyes almost half closed, his shoulders are slouched, and his body posture is off.

“No gears or pistons…” Dreamfinder groans, “…everything’s so different, Figment.”

“How did this happen?” Figment worryingly asks. “What about the power of imagination?”

“It just…it didn’t work. When we saved London I felt like I could do anything. I imagined things and in a flash they came true. But now, instead of believing, I just…froze up. I had that awful feeling all over again. That feeling I had before I succeeded with the Mesmonic Converter.”

“ ‘Feeling’? What feeling?”

“…Doubt.”

“Doubt?” Figment exclaims with surprise. “How can you feel doubt? You’ve just saved everyone in London from peril and became the Dreamfinder.”

“I know! But I feel like there’s something wrong going on in me and I feeling terrible about it! I broke a piece of glass on the top of the building, I wrecked the Dream Machine onto the geodesic sphere, and every piece of technology I see in this time period is not familiar to me from back home. I don’t know if I can stand it!”

         At the door, Dreamfinder notices a piece of a fabric and a thick string of pink hair quickly leaving from the side of Fye’s office door. He just saw them gone, which has heightened his curiosity but only by a little bit. But he decided to ignore that and continue his conversation with Figment.

“So what are you going to do?” Figment asks.

“I…I don’t know.” Dreamfinder replied. “I have to prepare for the demonstration with the Mesmonic Converter tomorrow, so…I guess I’ll have to think about it.”

“You want some help?”

“No…no, I can do it myself. I just need to concentrate.”

“Okay. I’ll just…uh, I’ll just help the janitors pick the machine pieces.”

         Figment flies away from Dreamfinder and leaves the office. Dreamfinder continues looking out the window to watch the sunset. Never in his life has he ever felt so melancholy inside…so utterly alone. But he wasn’t alone. The person that owned the pink hair and gray fabric skirt peered at Dreamfinder from behind the door. It crept an eye out at the sad Dreamfinder and lowered half an eyelid with sympathy. Feeling that it was unbearable to watch him, the person left.

         That night, while Figment is asleep on Fye’s desk chair, Dreamfinder is out taking a walk in the darkened hallways of the academy alone. The only other person he sees walking by is the janitor mopping the blue tile floor. The only light in the building is coming from the moon gleaming from the night sky. The shadows that formed grew bigger and taller with every minute that passed. With every step, the Dreamfinder watched his shadow grow taller and merge and dance through the others. This horrible feeling of doubt inside of him is intensifying with every passing minute of the night. The icy grip of it is making him feel too numb for him to walk any further. Now Dreamfinder is beginning to hear voices in his head…horrible, abusive, threatening voices. They’re shouting, bouncing, and spiraling around in his brain about how much of a loser he is; someone who is unfit to accomplish such great lengths of both heroism and inventive genius. The voices in his head are shouting even louder than before. They’re loud enough for Dreamfinder to stop and cringe his face, ready to cry.

         Suddenly, he hears a shuffling, stomping sound. It’s the sound of footsteps. His eyes perk up and searched the area. In an instant, Dreamfinder spots a girl running across the hall. He calls out to her, but she doesn’t stop. She kept on running as fast as she could, ignoring Dreamfinder’s shouting, so Dreamfinder started chasing her. Clearly, Dreamfinder was a lot faster runner than the girl is. And yet, she was still getting away. They keep making sharp turns at corners from hall to hall. Then the chase started to become intense. It was like finding a needle in a maze of giant haystacks. Finally, Dreamfinder locates the running girl. He chases after her until he sees her entering a door. The door shuts loudly and locks up behind her. The sign on the door says “Staff Only.” Why would that girl run through a door that’s only for staff?

         Dreamfinder attempts to pry it open, but the door wouldn’t budge. He tries banging on it, knocking it loudly. Nothing. Then he tries to barge through it, but it only made his arm hurt. He jiggled and jangled the doorknob until the lock inside it broke off. Dreamfinder opens the door swiftly and runs inside. The room behind the door is as dark as night. His arm searches for a light switch on the wall like a wriggling octopus leg. Suddenly, he finds the switch and turns on the light.

         But when he did, the light turned on only it was anything BUT a “Staff Only” room. Inside the room, there is a single pink light bulb hanging from the ceiling with its wire streaming with more pink and red light bulbs in the shape of hearts. A single bed is placed towards the farther with a cocoa-colored dresser on one side. Beside the left of the bed is a small table with a little lamp and a small drawer filled with small papers and colored pencils. Stuffed animals and figurines from Disney are placed on a desk beside the small table. Old posters are taped to the walls. Some of them are of old Disney films and parks, while the others are of famous bands and singers. There are stacks of sketchbooks piling on top of each other and taking up spaces in the corners of the room. Dreamfinder could not make out what he is seeing. Everything in this room looks anything BUT Scientifica-Lucidus related. It’s not a “Staff Only” room, it’s a bedroom!

“Uh…hello?” the Dreamfinder spoke.

         There was not a word to be heard. He saw the strange girl come in here, but it looks like she is not. Unexpectedly, he notices a little movement happening on the bed and under the covers. Dreamfinder slowly walks up to the bed, grabs onto the sheet, and abruptly pulls it away revealing the strange girl cringing in fear with her head in her pillow and in her pajamas.

“Ah! Please don’t hurt me!” the girl shrieked.

“Wha-? No! I’m-I’m…!” Dreamfinder stuttered. “I’m not going to hurt you. Wh-who are you?”

“I’m…I’m Runa.” Runa said, shyly. “I’m a student here in the academy. You’re…You’re Dreamfinder! The one who defeated that robot army with Figment a hundred years ago!”

“Yeah. That’s me alright. Except I still can’t believe we’ve traveled that long from our own time. Time traveling with imagination? I mean…”

“I’m kind of shocked myself.”

“What are you doing here anyway? The academy is closed for the night. Shouldn’t you be home with your family?”

“I am home. This is my bedroom.”

“Your bedroom? This is where you live?”

“Yes.”

“Does anyone know about this?”

“F-Fye does. And some others. He…he adopted me after I was abandoned one night a long time ago. He took me back here and I’ve been living in secret ever since.”

“Oh…so the Chairman doesn’t know you live here either?” Dreamfinder realizes, as he takes a seat on Runa’s bed.

“Live here? He doesn’t even know I exist!” Runa replied.

“What? Why?”

“I…I can’t tell you.”

“Why not?”

“I’ll get expelled if I tell you and then you telling Chairman Auckley.”

“You can trust me, Runa. Whatever reason Fye has brought you here must be a good one. And between you and me, I think Chairman Auckley could use a refresher course on ‘common courtesy.’ ”

“Well…” Runa starts off with a small giggle. “Fye said something to me about how he saw me fall down from the sky like a shooting star. He said I landed somewhere in forest of palm trees just outside of the academy. It was raining out that night, so I guess he must have found it hard to locate what had fallen down. When he found the very spot I landed at, I wasn’t there. Instead, I was…I was nude and walking through the forest…dazed and confused, badly bruised, weak, lost and alone. I had no recollection of what had happened before I crashed down here. I still don’t. All I remember is a flash of light, burning like fire, and crying a lot. The next thing I knew I had woken up in Fye’s arms in a hospital in town. Fye had assumed full responsibility over me and brought me back to the academy where I would be safe from who knows what. For a while, most of the academy didn’t know I was here. I was only eight years old when Mr. Auckley became the Chairman of the Academy Scientifica-Lucidus and yet Fye still hasn’t said anything to him about it. I know Fye’s trying to be the father figure to me and protect me from whatever harm there may be either between me and the students or me and someone elsewhere, but hiding me here makes me feel out of sorts with the world. It’s like I don’t know what the world is anymore.”

“I…I know that feeling.” Dreamfinder sighs.

“You do?”

“Figment and I traveled one hundred years beyond what we once knew. That means every one of my family, my friends, my colleagues; everything and everyone I knew in the past are all gone! I’m beginning to imagine what must have happened to London while we were gone all these years. And now with all this new technology being made right now, impressive as they seem to be, I don’t know if I even have a place in this world anymore.”

“Do you see this necklace?” Runa asks, as she pulls out her silver ball necklace from around her neck. “Fye found me wearing this when I arrived here.”

“It’s beautiful!”

“Thanks. I don’t…I don’t remember who or what my family was like after the crash. But whenever I see myself in the mirror wearing this necklace, I keep getting blurry visions of what they must have at least looked like. And then whenever I imagine them and believe for sure that they must have looked like, I take my colors and my sketchbooks and draw what I can remember from those visions. The problem is that with every vision I have and what drawings come out of them, they keep getting weirder and weirder. This one here shows that this person must have had her hair dyed in blue, pink and purple all at once. As helpful as it gets, I think that’s just silly.”

“I don’t know. I’ve never seen a girl with pink hair like yours all by itself before, let alone all three of those colors combined. Did you dye yours, too?”

“No. This is strangely my natural hair color! Though, it could at least be a strawberry-blonde color.”

“Well, whichever it is, you look lovely with it.” said Dreamfinder with a smile in his charm.

“Oh…thank you.” Runa blushes. “Do you have something to remind you of your family?”

“Well, I have a pocket watch my mother gave me as a birthday present with a picture of my family in-…wait.” Dreamfinder searches his pockets, only to find that they are all empty! There is nothing in the jacket pockets or his pants. He gasps, “My pocket watch! It’s gone!” Now Dreamfinder is completely devastated, for now he has nothing that would make him feel close to home. “I…I must have lost it when I was fighting off the Articulate Army way back.” Dreamfinder says with a defeated sigh. “Now I have nothing…”

“I’m sorry, Dreamfinder.” said Runa with sympathy. “But you know, you’ve still got your memories of them. And best of all, you’ve still got Figment, right?”

“Yes.” Dreamfinder smiles. “Yes, I do. Considering what we’ve both been through since I brought him to life, I guess he’s become far more worth it than a piece of clockwork. I’m glad you’ve reminded me of that.”

“So am I. So what are you going to do now?”

“I have to prepare for another demonstration tomorrow for the academy with Figment about how great dream power is. That sure worked out very well this afternoon.”

“That’s right! You broke the dirigible earlier today.”

“You’re lucky you don’t have to collect every piece of it to put it back together.” He snickers.

“Why not just use the power of your imagination to put the Dream Machine back together in an instant?”

         Dreamfinder said nothing. His dumbfounded-ness has risen up once again only to make him feeling blushed with embarrassment in the funniest way possible. He slaps a hand to his face and muffles through it.

“NOW you tell me!” Dreamfinder muffles through his gloved hand, making Runa giggle. “Well, I guess that just goes to show you how tired I must be.”

“I’m afraid so.” Runa says with a blushing smile.

“Well, in that case, I should probably leave you be. I have a lot to do for tomorrow.”

“Okay…goodnight.”

“Goodnight.”

         Dreamfinder gets up from Runa’s bed and heads straight to the door. But before he could make it there, Runa suddenly calls out to him.

“Dreamfinder?” she says.

“Yes?” he replies.

“I wouldn’t worry about trying to fit in to this time period. For some reason, I know far less about Earth than you or anyone else in this world. With you, you can at least find a way to cope with a new look on life and a new atmosphere of things. And again, worst case scenario, you’ll still have Figment to be there for you.”

“I know. Thanks, Runa.”

“No…thank you. Um…can you turn off the light on your way out?”

“Of course.”

         With a smile on his face, Dreamfinder flips the switch to where the room gets completely dark and steps outside the room. Before the door closes, he watches Runa make herself comfortable in her sheets and mattress. Runa drapes herself under the soft comforter, snuggling her face onto her pillow and sleeping like an infant child. The innocence in her rises to Dreamfinder’s senses. The gleaming on Runa’s hot-salmon pink hair sparkles under the creek of the moon’s light from outside. This mysterious being is safely sleeping, unaware by the entire school board and body, including the Chairman, except for Fye and now Dreamfinder, in the heart of the academy. Dreamfinder then closes the door and leaves Runa in the peaceful darkness of her own world.

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“Wow!” Rachel exclaims. “So you’ve lived here in the academy all your life?”

“That’s right.” Runa said. “Don’t get me wrong, I love it here and I love Fye for supporting me and taking care of me all these years. But someday I’m going to graduate and leave here, free to do whatever I want to do…starting with figuring out and searching for my real family.”

“You go do it, girl! Personally, I didn’t have the best family life myself, but having a family is far better than having none at all.”

“Thank you, Rachel. Oh! I have to get to class!”

“Runa, wait a minute. I have to ask you something.”

“Sure. What is it?”

“You’ve been here for a very long time and I was wondering…how long has Dr. Channing been here in the academy?” Rachel asks.

“Oh, Dr. Channing. Please don’t get started with him.” Runa shivers uncomfortably. “That guy’s been giving me the creeps since he first got here.”

“Yes! Me too! Figment and Dreamfinder seem to take a liking to him, but I don’t! I can’t explain it out here, but I know his face from somewhere and I have a bad feeling he’s going do something to them.”

“That’s not good.”

“Do you know how long he’s been here?”

“Well…I was only three years old at the time, so I don’t remember much. But I think it might have been fifteen years ago because I read how he was beginning an experiment with some powerful material the same year he arrived here.”

“Fifteen years? Oh God…”

“I’m sorry that I haven’t been much of help, Rachel, but—”

“Oh no! You’ve actually helped me out a lot, Runa!” Rachel exclaims. “Thank you!”

“Anytime.” Runa smiles. As she holds her sketchbook to her chest, she concludes, “A friend of Dreamfinder and Figment’s is a friend of mine. Now I gotta go. I don’t want to be late for class. Bye!”

“Bye!”

         Runa runs off from Rachel down the hall and up the stairs to her next class. Rachel is left all alone outside of the Chairman’s office where inside is a very angry and upset Dreamfinder surrounded by confused friends. Going back in there would mean both having to deal with Dreamfinder’s possible silent treatment AND standing so close to a suspicious Dr. Channing, but at least it’s better than being alone. So Rachel walks up to the door with the Chairman’s name on it, gently knocks on the window on the door, and gently turns the door handle.

         But before she enters, a rapid shaking in her necklaces bounces off on Rachel’s chest. The blue light from inside shines brightly almost blinding the poor girl. In an instant, she sees Yuna’s aura-like self shooting out of the gem and hits the ground next the Rachel, forming her shape into her human form. Her blue, purple, pink hair brilliantly shines with the matching blue color of the sky under the Florida sun and her white dress is as pure as winter snow. As the remains of Yuna’s magic turns into flesh, she watches Runa speeding off to her class in a hurry. For some reason, she is feeling the need to cry.

“Oh my gosh…” Yuna gasps.

“Yuna?” said Rachel. “What’s wrong?”

“That girl…that girl you were just talking to…what is her name?”

“Runa. Heh, it’s kinda funny, though. You two kind of have the same name, but with different first letters.”

“Rachel…that girl, Runa, is my younger sister!”

“What?!" Rachel gasps. "Are you sure? But…but how?”

“A long time ago," Yuna begins, "my father and mother have just been made rulers of our people. My mother, bless her heart, has always cared very much for our people and the goodness they possess, but my father only cared for power and the bright ideas our people had that would only help his reign as our ruler very strong…strong enough to dominate anything, anyone and any world that would defy him of his might. Many of us knew how much badly my father was getting every passing day and if he should continue his reign, he would lead us all into the depths of peril. As the eldest daughter, I was believed to be given the responsibility of taking father’s place on the throne once his time would end,. But being the greedy and shady ruler he is, he did everything he could to prevent that from happening. So now, I have no right to take the throne from in time, but when or if he and my mother would ever bear a son. In time, while my father away for a long while, my mother had secretly been pregnant and we’ve both been blessed with my sister, Runa. And by the time she had been born, my mother placed a vote for our people to withdraw the rule that would prevent me or my sister from taking the throne when our father passes on and never bring it back up again. When my father finally returned and learned of this, he was outraged! He sentenced my mother to jail until her death and rotted. I was only eight years old, in your human years, when it happened. I cried and cried endlessly for my mother’s sentence. I was forbidden to go see her or else my death would be instant. Then one night, I had overheard the priests in our church talking amongst themselves saying how Runa may be the key to ending my father’s reign once and for while. I don’t know how, but I had hoped and believed it’d happen. But my father had his spies sent to them and learned of the rumors himself. And on that same night, he entered Runa’s nursery and took her in his arms and left. He lied to me that he was going to either feed her or change her, making me believe he was finally going to be a father. But what did her do?”

“What did he do?” Rachel asks.

“He went to the nearest cannon, placed my younger sister in a capsule that would defy the effects of space, and shot her away from home to wander the universe until her death!” Yuna said, crying.

“Oh my God, that’s horrible! You know what? We are REALLY bad with our dads, aren’t we?”

“I had hoped…that I would live the rest of my childhood with my sister. We’d be playing together, grow up together, get married together, and be the best of friends. But up until today, I had believed Runa to be dead. Now that I see Runa alive and well with the splitting image of our mother, I’m overjoyed! But with Runa being a baby in those events, I highly doubt she knows what happened.”

“Then go talk to her!”

“No, I…I don’t know how to tell her!”

“You have to tell her somehow! She just told me of a sketch she made a year ago of a person with blue, purple and pink dyed hair that appeared in her dreams. Who else could possibly have those colors together in their hair all at once?”

“She did? Then…then you think she…do I even have a chance?” Yuna stammers.

“Hey, I don’t know how long we’re gonna be here.” Rachel says. “I hate being in this place with this bad vibe enough as it is. So until we actually leave, I’d suggest you go over to Runa’s classroom and tell her the truth before it’s too late!”

“…You’re right. I’ll go. But what about—”

“Don’t worry about me. I’ll call for you when I need you. Now go…go see your sister.”

“…”

“GO!”

         Yuna immediately shifts back into her sprite form and speeds off like a rocket following Runa’s trail, leaving Rachel all alone again. As she disappears, Rachel turns back to the Chairman’s office door and opens it gently.

********************************************************************************************************

         As she enters, she sees everyone turning their heads towards her…everyone except for Dreamfinder. He just titled his eyes toward Rachel direction with giving any interaction like he doesn’t care. As much as Rachel already knows the reason why, that just hurts. Alex is out of his chair shaking the Chairman’s hand by the time she came in. Beforehand there were already a bunch of smiles on their faces for some happy reason. But when Rachel came in, it was like a giant wave of uncomforting awkwardness just washed all that happiness away.

“E-Excuse me, everyone.” Rachel speaks shyly.

“Rachel! Where have you been?” Figment exclaims cheerfully.

“I…want to apologize for my behavior earlier. It was totally inappropriate and unladylike of me to spat off like that. If…if you wouldn’t mind, I’d like to rejoin you in here.”

“Of course, Ms. Rachel.” Fye said happily. “You’re just in time for the good news! Alex?”

“I’m in! I’m in the academy now! I start next semester!” Alex shouts excitedly.

“Aw dude! That’s awesome!” Rachel squeals as she tightly squeezes a hug for Alex. “Congratulations!”

“Thanks!”

“Alright, Alex! I knew you’d get in!” Figment cheers.

“Thank you! All of you!”

“Congratulations, Alex.” Dreamfinder steps up, shaking Alex’s hand. “You’re brother would be proud.”

“I know he is.” Alex smiles.

         Suddenly, a student in a lab coat comes rushing into the office and shouts, “Dr. Channing! Mr. Fye! We’ve got something on the radar!”

“Excellent!” Dr. Channing exclaims.

“Wonderful!” Fye exclaims also. “Dreamfinder, how would you and your friends like to see what we are researching now in our labs? It has a lot to do with the dream power we’ve been experimenting on.”

“We’d be happy to.” said Dreamfinder.

“Lead the way, ol’ buddy!” Figment shouts.

“Yes, I’m sure you’ll find what we’re working on quite fascinating.” said Dr. Channing as he reveals a slight devilish smirk on his face to which only Rachel had noticed.

         From what Runa had just told Rachel about Channing and with all the suspicions and bad vibes she has been getting since he had arrived at the academy with her friends, the worst is about to come.