[center][b][u]Keith, Eclipsed Tower[/b][/u][/center]
[hider=Dream Sequence]Keith was tired. His head lay on his mother’s chest, the rocking of the car a lullaby for his aching mind. It wasn’t a good idea for him and his mother to be in the front seat, but they had done it anyway. He liked the warmth, and he was still fairly light.

This was the last memory he had of his parents. It replayed itself in his mind many times, but in his dreams there was always one dark twist. He could see all of the details while he was dreaming it in extreme clarity, but he always saw one extra thing that he knew wasn’t real.

As the car trip continued, he could see his parents crumbling. Their bodies slowly turned into sand, and the sand waas whisked away by some ethereal force to somewhere he couldn’t see. He couldn’t do anything about it. He couldn’t speak up, he couldn’t touch them, he could barely even move his head in the dream. He could only watch as his parents slowly disintegrated.

He’d had this dream before, he knew how it happened. The crumbling would continue until the accident itself occurred, the accident that had left him alone. He saw it now, a truck speeding towards them, collision inevitable. Deaths, inevitable.

He watched again, as the truck tried in vain to stop itself as the driver realized his error. He saw again, the twisted metal crashing through the windscreen, his father fully disintegrating under an onslaught of steel and her mother wrapping herself around her only child, a cruel spear of metal piercing her and taking away her warm embrace forever. She too disintegrated, joining his father, the spear that took her life barely scratching his in comparison.

He had been conscious the whole time when it had happened in real life. He had fainted later mainly due to a mix of shock and blood loss. When he came to in the dream, he was awakened by his Grandfather, also slowly crumbling away. His grandfather was ill. He was constantly reminded of that. His grandfather wouldn’t be able to take care of him, he could only teach him how to take care of himself.

Soon, his grandfather too crumbled away and joined his parents. Now he was alone. His last relatives had long since died, his friends were nowhere to be found and he was well and truly alone.

Now came the last part of his dream. He stood alone, in somewhere that felt very familiar. It was dark, but not really dark. His surroundings were inky shadow, but he could see himself bright as day. He stood alone, silent and emotionless. And then he started crumbling. It started in his hands, then he could feel it in his bones. He was crumbling away, like his parents and his grandfather.

He looked down at himself, his body ever so slowly turning into sand. He raised his hands, he saw crumbling into dust. He felt himself fade, and he felt nothing. He was going to die alone, and he felt nothing.

And then he woke up.

(A song for your troubles)[youtube]2QaUJ647K0Q[/youtube][/hider]
[center][b][u]Reiko, Princess Rainbow[/center][/b][/u]
[hider=Dream Sequence][b]”What do I want to be when I grow up?”[/b] Reiko said. [b]”Hm…”[/b]

She didn’t recognize her own voice, it sounded much smaller and… younger.

[b]”I’ll be a princess!”[/b]

What was she saying? It sounded so incredibly clichéd…

[b]”What’s that? You want to be… a space pirate?”[/b]

She couldn’t remember it clearly, but she had said these words some time ago, when she was…

[b]”That’s amazing! Promise me, when you grow older.”[/b]

She was close to remembering, she could practically feel the memory at her fingertips.

[b]”Promise me that you’ll be the first Space Pirate, no matter what.”[/b]

Then she remembered. The memory hit her like a freight train, long overdue. The scene appeared in front of her eyes, a very young Taro, sitting in front of her on the playground pirate ship, the last time she would see him for a long time to come. This was the first time Reiko had ever had to haul him out of a situation, he had been bullied for a long time owing to what people saw as a ridiculous dream. He had been chased into the pirate ship, his final refuge before Reiko had shown up and chased his bullies away.

She remembered it clearly now, the sun was setting and it was her last day that she could be with Taro. She was moving out of the town, and away from Taro. But before she had left, she decided to make a promise. They had told each other about their dreams at that time. Reiko wanted to be a princess, and Taro had wanted to become a space pirate. But his parents told him that it was impossible, and so had everyone else except for Reiko. At the time, she had thought not about how possible it was, but how awesome it would’ve been to become the first space pirate. In fact, she was probably largely the reason that Taro still wanted to become the first Space Pirate.

Her younger self stuck out her pinkie finger in front of her.

[b]”I want you to promise me,”[/b] Her younger self said. [b]”That when we’re adults, you’ll be the first Space Pirate, and I’ll be a true Princess.”[/b]

Taro looked at her, confused.

[b]”I can’t be with you forever,”[/b] Her younger self continued, [b]”After today, we’re moving away.”[/b]

Realization dawned on Taro’s face.

[b]”Make this promise with me,”[/b] Reiko said. [b]”So that even if we’re apart, we can always remember our dreams.”[/b]

Taro extend his pinkie, and they intertwined, sealing the promise. A car pulled up outside of the playground, signalling the end of their final interaction. Reiko stood silently, and climbed out of the ship. She took one final look at Taro before getting into the car and driving off.

Her dream ended with her looking back into the pirate ship, wishing with all her heart; that someday she would be Reiko the Princess and Taro the first Space Pirate, and their promise would be fulfilled.

Her eyes snapped open, and she woke up.

[i]Just a dream.[/i] She thought. Wiping her eyes groggily, she slowly sat up in her bed. She felt a little woozy, like she’d been asleep too long. She looked at her clock and she realized what time it was.

[b]”An hour to school?!”[/b] She exclaimed, mentally smacking herself. She’d missed the appointment! And now she had to eat, take a shower and change in an hour?

[i]Damn it![/i] She thought to herself. She quickly got up and started to get ready for school.[/hider]