The Dream Shifter

Chapter 243

No rest was to be for Yumi. She woke once more. Her mind was already apprehensive about what she would find. Twice before, terrible things burned her mind. She did not want to open her eyes anymore. She could live with the horrors already seen if it meant seeing something worse.

'This can't be real… can't be real… just a dream… nothing's real…' She prayed for nothing to happen. It all felt too real and impossible. Yumi wished for it all to end.

"…Yumi…Yumi… …Yumi…"

The voice made her body shake. Not seeing only made things worse. Her mind constructed unsettling images. She did not know which was worse for her. The unseen ran purely on sounds that wormed their way through her ears and creepily caressed her mind. It gave her no chance to flee. '…please…no more…'

A crunch followed the sound of something breaking. Moans and screams came after painting new images inside Yumi's mind. Less imagination was required, but it was no less horrifying to see. She considered opening her eyes.

"…Yumi…"

'…why…it can't be Yori! …can't be…' Pleads for mercy went unanswered. It followed more screaming. Yumi cried uncontrollably. She could not deal with it any longer. She did not know what was going on with her. Nothing went the way it should.

Her eyes slid open unwillingly. She found her brother standing over some Atlantean soldier. Blood covered most of him from the gruesome work he carried out. In his hand a section of the soldier's arm dripped blood from its roughly severed stump. The sight made her gasp loudly. "Why?!" she yelped, as the only words she could muster.

Yori slid his head over to her with an emotionless face. The sight of her awake turned a light on in him. "Yumi!" He spun around to face her. Blood from the arm sprayed through the air dotting Yumi's face.

The blood made Yumi jump and crawl away from Yori. Even with his face looking more pleasant, it only seemed to make his presence unsettling. She ran into something that stopped her. Yori approached her slowly making want to run away. "Please…no…NO!"

"What's wrong, Yumi? I protected you." He swung the arm again painting Yumi's cloths in splotches of blood. "Just like you wanted. They won't hurt you anymore."

Yumi shook her head slowly having trouble looking at her brother. "I never wanted this!" The sight of the blood from the pleading soldier on the floor made her body run cold.

He pressed his free hand down against the surface that supported Yumi. His arm ran next to her face. Yori lowered his head down to her. "You have nothing to fear anymore. It's all been taken care of."

She never thought that her brother could scare her so much. He never carried such a dark presence before. It did not seem like him. It had to be a dream. Yumi pressed her back further wanting to hide from him. "…no…please, no more…"

"Not convinced?" Yori stood up and turned away for a moment. He tossed the limb in his hand into the corner of the room without a second thought. "See for yourself." His hand stretched out above Yumi pulling something open.

Dozens of dismembered and disfigured corpses fell on top of Yumi. The weight of the bodies held her down unable to move. Their blood soaked into her cloths weighing her down and sticking to her. She felt the cold thick liquid pouring over her body. Yumi screamed again feeling at the breaking point. She could not take any more of it.

Every one of them stared at her. She could not ignore their eyes that blamed her. "NO! Stop it!"

Blood swam through her. It went everywhere. It took on a life of its own. Behind it all Yori looked down not even cracking from the light glow in his features as though looking fondly at something. He had the same expression he always he went looking at his sister, caring and looking out for her as family. However, it no longer suited him. It was wrong.

Her screaming continued as the blood crawled up her neck. It surrounded her. The death chained her to the floor keeping her still. No one would save her. Blood filled her hair and surrounded her face. It poured in covering her eyes, which she could not close. The metallic smell filled her nose before she could not take air in anymore. It spilled into her mouth choking her and drowning her.

Everything went blank.

Through crimson sight, her brother suddenly fell into pieces, sliced too many times to count. His blood sprayed everywhere. Though he did something so terrible her heart still skipped at the sight. Behind him another figure appeared. It reached out a hand to her. They pulled her free of everything. All of the weights disappeared.

She was clean.

Her body ran, following them. Her hand held tightly onto them. It all faded away. She did not know who saved her. "…thank you…"

They turned to their head back towards Yumi. "I'll always protect you, Yumi," replied Yuki. "You have nothing to fear anymore."

Initially, while Yumi ran away she was too afraid to look around. So many terrible things already traumatized her. She did not want to see them again. However, the longer she ran with Yuki the more certain she became things were different. The camp no longer surrounded her, she was certain.

Everything looked different from what she experienced. She never wanted to see it again, but at the same time wondered what happened. It was all moving so fast for her. She still tried to catch up with the last moments. Like everything else before, she did not understand what happened. It made as little sense as what she saw in the camp.

All she knew was Yuki held her hand to take her away from all of the terrible things. She thought that she could fight and protect him, but in the end, she was useless. It made her a little sad to think she needed to keep relying in him. She wanted to show him the strength he gave her. But Yumi did not know what horrors she saw or how it happened. Her mind could not forget them, even though it tried to push them off as nightmares.

However, one thing bothered her still about the whole situation. It seemed like a small minor issue and considering what happened, she should not complain. Yet, she felt it strange. She needed an answer to the question. The uncertainty kept nagging her until she relented to its force.

Yumi pulled away from Yuki, breaking their grip. She slid back a little closing up the space she consumed by wrapping her arms up against her chest. "What's going on, Yuki? Why are you here?"

"Huh?" He stopped and turned his head confused. Yuki started to approach her, but she stepped back. The fact she looked scared of something made him hold his position. "What are you talking about?"

Her mind already experienced so many things. The moment she had a chance to feel free from all of the horror her mind started to question things. It seemed too convenient for Yuki to appear to save her. She feared he might be another part of her delusion to torment her. Too many things happened already that were impossible.

Yumi needed some answers. She wanted to trust Yuki, but things still felt weird to her. "You're supposed to be with Ayumi and Saki heading to the capital. Ayumi promised me she'd keep you on the path you're supposed to be on. You shouldn't be here!"

Yuki looked away appearing a bit guilty. He crossed his arms tightly withholding his words for a while. His silence left Yumi hanging on the edge. A fact he understood, but still hesitated on responding. Tilting back to Yumi, he fixed eyes with her. "I know I shouldn't be here. Ayumi still pretty mad at me for abandoning it, but when I woke up I couldn't accept it. Yori's one of us too. He one of my friends and I'm not going to leave anyone behind, even if it does ruin other things. Nothing is more important than my friends to me."

"But I…you're…"

He took a couple cautious steps forward checking to see how Yumi felt about him. She did not back away giving him some comfort. "I had to use my powers to stop Ayumi. Saki was easier to convince. So we turned back around and came back for you. I'm sorry that I arrived so late."

It felt genuine, real. She wanted to believe it. Her heart was already jumping in without a second thought. Only the images of what she saw before kept her from fully accepting Yuki's words. It seemed real. Yuki was someone that put his friends before everything. Everything he said made sense to her. She knew how he felt about what happened to her brother. It was the reason she acted as she did. He could not look at the larger picture.

Everything made sense. All of the horrible things never happened. Yuki would erase that all for her. She could be happy again. Taking slow steps, Yumi closed the distance between them. Her hand stretched out to his tunic holding the fabric near to his stomach. "I'm sorry. Does it hurt?"

A few moments passed for Yuki to understand her question and apology. He waved his hand dismissing it. "Don't worry. I'm tough."

Yumi looked up at Yuki. Her heart finally stopped pounded. It calmed for the first time since the weirdness began. "Sorry…"

"Hey, you don't need to keep apologizing to me." Yuki patted Yumi on the head. He grinned down at her to re-enforce his point.

It took a bit for Yumi, but she managed to return his smile. "Thank you."

With answers settled, they rested for a minute. Things remained fairly quiet between them. It created an awkward mood for Yumi. The night still dragged on reminding Yumi of all of the events. She felt like days pasted in all of the confusion. She was just glad it was all over.

Yumi looked around trying to see through darkened air. "Where is everyone else? Are they all safe? Where's my brother?!" By the end of her questions, Yumi found herself leaning in towards Yuki. It made her quietly fall back, a little red in the face.

Roughing up his hair, Yuki looked a little embarrassed forgetting about them in the moment. He quickly came for Yumi. It left them to deal with everything else. "Right! They're all helping out others that went with you to get out. Knowing Seiji, he's probably having too much fun fighting strong opponents." A weak laugh came from Yuki, knowing Seiji's nature too well. "But hopefully Saki will be able to convince him."