Reona's Dream

by Helen

"Oh, Efrem"  Reona rolled over, twisting she sheets further, her body chilling from the sweat. <next panel :)> They danced to music she strained to hear.  She thought she heard her name in the lyrics but couldn't bring herself to stop and listen.  He looked just like she remembered him, smiling, dashing, and completely hers.  He wore a black and white suit, very formal, and from what she could tell, very expensive.

 

Again she felt distracted by what she thought was the sound of someone calling her name.  The sound melted away into the music as he spun her away and seamlessly drew her back into his arms.

 

"Oh, Efrem.  I knew you couldn't betray me."

 

The slightest change of expression showed a hint of innocent confusion.  "I've always been here Reona."

 

This would have alarmed her but he was here with her.  Her burning desire to believe him pushed away everything else she knew to be truth as if it were a dream.  Even more was the sensation of two real hands holding him in this dance.  She relaxed even more, leaning her head on his chest.  The voice saying her name, the music, all sound started to blend and fade.  This was dream, a beautiful dream.

 

She did notice when the music stopped suddenly.  She had to notice because Efrem stopped too.  He had the same wistful smiling expression he had the entire dance, but the first time she noticed he wasn't looking at her, but through her.  His eyes didn't focus at all.  "Efrem?" She asked, leaning forward into his face.

 

She froze as she heard the footfalls behind her.  "Efrem"  She recognized the voice, and yet she didn't.  She had never heard him speak to anyone with such a cold and commanding tone.  "Come away Efrem."  Efrem took a few slow halting steps, as though hypnotized.

 

Reona turned and saw him: Zap, exactly as she remembered him.  The powder blue suit from some 1970s prom; the pants shredded at the calves, his jacket and shirt showing evidence of the bullet that had violated his abdomen.  There was no blood and no wound marring his naked stomach.  His eyes glowed green and a stream of green light left his hand and wound its way around his arm to his outstretched hand.  Above the palm formed an ethereal image of a crown.

 

When it finished taking shape, it floated out to Efrem who had continued walking forward like a zombie.  It settled on his head, covering his eyes.  Stunned she watched Efrem turn and stand behind Zap.  His face was now devoid of emotion, just like when she saw him with Naveed; his eyes seemed lifeless through the translucent crown.  This was no dream, it was a nightmare.

 

"Shall we dance, Reona?"  That cold voice again.  Before she could blink, he had crossed the room and swept her up in his arms, spinning her around.  At that time, she noticed her own dress was the same, burned from the the knees down.  He smiled and almost cruel smile, one that made her stomach turn on such a friendly face.  "Let's not lie anymore, Reona."  Zap spun her around much more sharply than Zap had.  In fact, he squeezed her hand between the fingers, and she felt the skin tear at her elbow.  Her skin slid off like a glove, revealing her metal arm.  When he pulled her back in, it was so forceful her stomach and back hurt, ((like she's been thrown over someone's shoulder while running? ;)))

 

"Zap," Reona gasped "This isn't you."

 

Zap laughed loudly.  "Then I would say you never really knew me.  Wouldn't you agree, old friend?"  He turned his head to look far back over his shoulder.  Reona gasped to see two wounds, like smaller bullet holes, but space apart like a snake bite, on his shoulder where she hadn't noticed before because of his shirt.  She followed his gaze into the shadows, and at first thought the saw the outline of a giant snake, but the Gunner stepped out and smirked the comment, "Miss Lightstar."

 

Zap spun her around and resumed dancing before she could say anything.  There was no music but she saw him humming the tune from before.  He was whispering something.  Something that looked like "Run, Reona.  I don't want to hurt you.  Reona, please get away."  She felt a cold shiver as she realized she'd been hearing it all along.  'why hadn't i paid attention?' and even as she thought this she knew why.

 

He turned to dip her, but instead of coming back up, she kept going down, falling.  When she should have hit the floor, she felt her whole body jerk as she woke up.