Smuggling

[Madotsuki]

Smoke. The scent of burning rubber. Was something on fire? Madotsuki spun around to try and locate the disaster, but all she could see was black. Black below and above her. Black in the distance. There was nothing to visually indicate where she was, let alone to help her locate an accident.

Within the dim mind of her subconscious, she knew it was a dream. But this wasn't a type of dream she dreamt of. It almost felt like it wasn't from her mind at all, so what was is coming from? Even worse, as much as she attempted to turn lucid, the waking awareness remained out of reach. She couldn't even control her dreams anymore; they were places where she could be herself-- no morals or laws to uphold, just a world of her own. And now they weren't even that.

She wanted to leave.

When she forced herself to wake up, she caught a glimpse of a shadowy figure in her room, lurking by the window. Whatever it was, it definitely wasn't humanoid. A pair of shadowy wings framed a face with large blue eyes. The figure didn't appear aggressive, but its gaze pierced though the darkness in a commanding way, and the dreamer couldn't help but fall unconscious again.

When she went under for the second time, she could hear the wailing of sirens and screaming people. Much to her horror, her legs gained a mind of their own and started dragging her towards the noise. She pulled and tugged, but her legs remained steadfast. Suddenly the rest of her body wouldn't respond, like her soul was ripped from her form and she was forced to watch it march towards its inevitable death.

She needed to leave.

Even while she was awake, she still couldn't move. The shadowy figure was now accompanied by two black humanoids with red eyes. Madotsuki struggled not to scream as the two shades wavered their arms around her mouth, and the dreamer couldn't do anything about it. The non-human shadow, however, batted them aside and freed her. Immediately, she fell back asleep.

The building in front of her was made out of chrome, much like the establishments of Tier 2 where she lived. A giant hole had been made in the building, and the rest of it was smoldering in flames. Her path towards it was blocked by a line of cop cars. Stormtroopers hid behind them, readying their plasma pistols and shouting things that the Night Terror couldn't make out. Not that she was hard of hearing, but everyone else sounded like they were a mile underwater.

She glanced around, trying to see where the building was located, but anything further than a few meters from the vehicular blockade was hidden away in a shroud of darkness. The eyes from the friendly shadow stared at her from beyond the black, not commanding, but pleading for her to investigate the building further.

It was at that moment that the dreamer realized she could move her body again. Slowly, she crept her way past the line of cars, seemingly unnoticed by everyone else.

She wasn't meant to be here. They didn't realize that she was there because she shouldn't have been there in the first place. At least that's what the shade was thinking.

...Thinking?

Finally, she made her way through. In the center of the wreckage stood a lone figure stained with blood.

It was her.

She awoke with a start, trembling in a cold sweat. The shadows were gone, but her room remained dark under the cover of night. She stared up at the moon, trying not to cry as she attempted to piece together what had just happened.