Ed was unable to sleep. From the lack of security in this new area, so far away from home, to the puzzling array of lights and sounds, he just couldn't seem to find peace of mind. Ed closed his eyes in an attempt to return to the normal black and vacant dreamscape was used to. It had been three days since they moved into the city and he just now was realizing that he had not been able to get sufficient sleep any night. The city's night life was a complete opposite of life in the day; the night made him feel vulnerable. But soon enough, to his suprise, he began to drift off, the strange setting rinsed away, leaving him in the dark.

Suddenly, his nose was filled with the crisp scent of ocean air. He felt a cool rush of water beneath his feet. It must have been the city's wastes. He opened his eyes to see some comforting sights- the city was itself and he could hear the busy street just beyond the wall which separated the wastes from the city.

"This...has to be a dream," he though, as if it wasn't already obvious enough. "Cool, lucid dreaming...Go me..."

Lillien was exploring the wastes with him as well, something quite plausible to dream about. She had asked him to go sight seeing with her and this would be the kind of place she would go. Relief from the strange world he now called home was quickly growing with each moment he stayed within this dream.

Lilly called to him, as if she had found something. Smiling, satisfied with the dream he had managed to create, he attempted to step forward and realized he could not do so. It felt like someone was holding on to him, and just as he looked down, a new wave of dread washed over him.

He and Lillien were not the only people in his dream: there, clinging on his leg, was a girl, not much younger than him. Her mellow-brown skin was covered in blood and wounds and her plain clothes tattered. He saw that her face was battered and beaten while she looked up at him with pleading eyes. It was obvious that wherever this girl came from, she wasn't supposed to be alive. For some reason, he felt like this suddenly became more than a dream-was it a warning? A prediction? Whatever it was, it needed to be over.

"Don't," the girl managed to gasp, a trail of blood leaving her mouth as she finished the word. "Don't leave! Don't leave me again! Help me!"

The girl was crying now, along with Ed doing so out of fear. Her voice was too painfully familiar to bear. Full of apprehension, he tried to jerk his leg away even harder, but could not shake the girl.

"Find me. Help me!"

He looked back to Lillien and found an equally disturbing sight. Lillien was stand and smiling, as she had been before, but blood was running down her face as well. She looked just as bad as the girl clinging to his leg, but far more terrifying. She just stood bloody, smiling and waving, as if everything was fine.

Finally, he found himself back in the now familiarly dark Echo city. The sweat forming all over his face and body along with the sound of his rapidly beating heart confirmed that he was back in reality.

W-what was that?! He thought, putting his hand on his heart to try to calm himself. Once he caught his breath again, he laid back down, allowing the sounds of the city to distract him.

Just a dream, only a dream...

He soon found himself peeling back the covers on his bed and racing to Lilly's room, somewhat dreading what he would find. He slowly peered into her room to find what would have been predicted any other day: Lilly sleeping soundly, perfectly fine. Relief came and quickly came over him and wrapped him up. She was okay and he was too tired to worry anymore. But he then remembered that girl, how she clung to him as if her life depended on it, how she addressed him, what she said. Something made him feel responsible, even though that girl was most likely just a figment of his imagination. The girl still needed help. He looked down at where she had been in his dream. Though feint, there were slight marks or indentations as if someone had actually grabbed him. This time, the dread he had felt almost constantly changed, and he felt drawn. He didn't know what was coming over him but he didn't fight it.

I think I should...maybe...take a walk...

*********Three days later********

...."I...I...I guess I'm actually still a-alive..."

Her white hair was now, along the water around her, a deep red from her own blood. Weakly, she smiled as she looked up at the twinkling lights of the city and its calm outskirts. Attempting to move closer, she climbed the rocks that kept the water from meeting the city.

"I made it....I..."

The alluring lights began to dim as she fell slave to the oncoming pain, and began to black out from it. The girl stretched out her fingers, unable to grasp the beautiful world just in front of her.

"I just wasn't...,"

She lay, eyes finally closed, helpless in a pool of her own blood. Her outstretched arm fell lifeless over the rocks.

"...Wasn't strong enough."...... The only things left were the crashes of the ocean on the jagged rocks, the sound of the slow and steady rain beginning to fall, and what remained of her own heartbeat. She had accomplished one of the only things she wanted to do in her life-meet the outside of the lab and see the stars again. The stars were the last and only thing she remembered from her previous life before the lab. After eleven years in the dullness of the lab, her last hour would be spent in the bliss of the pale light of the moon and stars. She never really feared death-it is a necessity, an inevitable part of life so what would fearing it do? But now, she would give anything for just a few more years.  The sounds, like the lights, began to grow quieter, specifically the now pathetic and irregular beating of her heart. Within the growing silence, she could have sworn she heard something else...footsteps, perhaps? She opened her eyes slightly and was met by a pair of sneakers, however it didn't matter. She had already given up. They were too late. Most people near death see their lifetime in memories, however she only had one thought. She didn't know why, but only one name came to mind. The funny thing was, she didn't even know her own name, so why would a complete random one be her last thought? It brought a strange sense of security.

Hiroto