A/N: As I said before, I have had this nightmare many times. I want to stress once again that the characterizations of the people is NOT NOT NOT how they are in real life, or online, and if I offend any of those people I apologize. Nat, Kat, Chard, Renn, Kyle, Tammy, Gail, Kara, and I belong to themselves/myself. Their characterizations in the story belong to my subconscious, I think, after all it was a dream...Well, the dreams took place in different times. Anyway, I finally got this part out… As you can tell…

She looked around, not quite sure of what she was seeing, or exactly why she was seeing it. Everything looked so different from the quiet country village that Marie Eleoin was used to. She turned around quickly as there was a rustling right behind her.

"Hello?" she called uncertainly. Nobody was there, but there was still the footsteps walking down the dark paved city alley. She ran after the footsteps, trying to find somebody in this seemingly deserted land. "Who are you?"

The footsteps stopped, so after a moment Marie did as well. She tried to remember how she got to this strange place, but the last thing that she remembered was going to sleep. Could this all be a dream? she wondered, hoping that it could be the case. Ookay, on the count of three I'm going to wake up...One, two, three.

Looking around, Marie saw that she was still right where she'd been a moment ago. Stopping a moment, she pinched herself. "Oww!" she hissed, but bit her lip uncertainly. That could just be a myth, the idea that things didn't hurt in dreams.

She got out the lighter that she always kept in her pocket and held it up. She lit it, then held her hand above it. Sure enough, the heat was building there. She flicked it off, suddenly worried that she'd attracted someone with the light.

Not that they wouldn't have heard me running after the footsteps and yelling, anyway, she remembered, getting more nervous by the minute. It all seems so real, though, do real dreams have such detail? My dreams never felt like this before. And once I realized it was a dream, I knew it, and I could do anything I wanted. This isn't lucid dreaming. She looked around again, and tried to lift herself off of the ground in the way that she could do when she realized she was asleep. It didn't work.

"Damnit," she swore, blushing immediately after uttering the curse. "What the heck is going on?"

"Maybe I can help with that," a voice spoke up behind Marie. She jumped, and turned around with a startled look on her face. To her relief, there was actually somebody there. However, seeing the sinister expression that adorned the other girl’s face, she started to think that maybe it would be better if the voice had been disembodied.

"Who are you?" Marie looked around, the nervous feeling in her stomach welling up even worse than it had been before.

"My name is Gail," the other girl licked her lips that were adorned with black lipstick. "You are Marie, no?"

"Yes, I am..." she looked around nervously. "What’s going on?"

"Why are you here? I’ve never seen a non-Co--" Gail abrubtly halted her sentence and looked at Marie more closely, almost as if she was studying her. "How did you get here?"

"I just...fell asleep?" it sounded more like a question than an answer. "At least, that’s the last thing I remember." She looked down. "This isn’t what I was wearing when I fell asleep, though."

Gail’s eyes looked calculating, and Marie could tell that she at least knew something of what was going on. "What? You can tell me what’s happening, right?"

"Yes, yes I can," answered Gail, slowly. She looked at Marie interestedly. "Come with me, and I’ll answer your questions." She checked her watch. "In fifteen minutes."

"How do I know that I can trust you not to kill me?" Marie backed away, feeling even more frightened.

"You don’t have anywhere else to go," replied Gail, "and if you stay here, you will be killed." She turned and walked briskly down the alley before the other girl could ask any questions.

The unasked questions were, however, echoing in her head. How does she know that I don’t live around here? Why would I be killed? Would it have something to do with her? Should I follow her?

The first question, at least, had an immediate answer. There was really nothing else to do besides follow her; Gail was right, she didn’t have anywhere else to go. She didn’t even know where "here" was!

Sighing, she jogged a few steps, then walked quickly to keep up with the quick pace. She didn't ask where they were going. Right now? She didn't want to know.

* * *

"She's late." Kat's voice echoed across the silent room. It had a cold sound, a hard sound, a sound that Mel dreaded would one day be how she herself sounded. "Gail is never late."

"So, are you worried about her or just planning on punishing her?" the bitter words sprung from Mel's mouth before she could stop them. She narrowed her eyes.

"We'll give her time to explain of course. However, we will start without her. If she--"

They were interrupted right then with Gail walking in, a small, shy-looking girl right behind her. "Hello," Gail put on a cheery mask that everyone knew was pretended, "How are y'all today? I picked up this girl in the alley--" She laughed. "Well, this is Marie, and I brought her here. She has some sort of destiny to fulfill or something of the sort." Gail snorted this time, the fake grin never leaving her face.

The girl, Marie, just looked uncomfortable standing there. She looked around, then brushed a lock of hair behind her ear self-consciously. "Um, hi… what's going on?"

Kara opened her mouth, but didn't get a chance to speak, as Kat broke in. "You'll learn as we go. Like on-the-job training. We don't have time to tell you. You'll catch on soon enough."

"Can't I…" Marie hesitated. "Can't I go home?"

"Home?" Mel's lips formed an empty smile. "You'll understand soon. You'll understand that the Coske is your only home, the only thing that matters."

Marie wasn't too sure she liked the blank look in the other girl's eyes.

* * *

The girl took a seat in the corner and observed. There were five in the middle-- Kat and Mel were the only names she caught, which left the guy and other two girls. It seemed like those five were the leaders, and that Mel and Kat were the leaders of the leaders, but Marie had learned not to go too much into first impressions. Until I find a way home, I'll just work the system, fit in, she decided.

Meanwhile, the group was discussing what they were going to do. "Someone knows about us," Kat began. "There's only one group so far that I know their location, but they know something about what's going on. They have information, information that we do not possess." She paused for effect, then continued. "Two things must be done. We get the information that they have, and then we kill them. We can't let anyone outside of here know we exist. Not yet."

Kara spoke up hesitantly from her chair. "Why would they give the information to us if they're going to die anyway?"

Mel opened her mouth. She had to show her authority, had to prove to the others that she was every bit as much in control as Kat. Even though it would make them fear her too. "You think they're going to know that they'll die anyway?"

Kara gulped as Mel continued.

"We tell them that if they give the information they'll live. Once they give it to us, then we kill them anyway." Mel felt physically sick saying these things, but it was almost like she couldn't help herself. Like she had to show strength. Why?

"What happens if they don't tell us?" wondered Renn. "Are you sure they'll snap under torture?"

Kat broke in here. "Oh, we have ways of finding out either way. If we're there. However, the building is heavily guarded…" And they started planning, like they always did.

Marie was still at the back, watching everything. The way Kat and Mel both seemed to try to have power then defer to the other at the last moment. The way Kara always seemed to want to say something but then backed out. The way Tammy was looking at the rest, as if trying to get a feel for everything. Marie saw it all; there were always advantages to being out of the spotlight but always watching the play.

"Alright, then, does everyone understand?" Kat asked. With a start Marie realized she hadn't been listening to the plan itself. Oh, well, I'm new, they'll understand… I hope… the girl faltered. They were talking of killing people… but they seem loyal to the group… which I hope I'm part of…Where am I going to stay, anyway? She wasn't as disturbed about this as she should be, which was the most worrying thing of all.

As everyone got up, Marie approached Kara. She was the one who seemed the most mellow, while at the same time seemed to be the most used to all this. "Hey," started Marie quietly.

"Hey."

"Do you know where I should stay or anything? I live a long way from here."

"Oh. Yeah. Sorry. We forgot about that I guess." Kara seemed… not nervous, but skittish somehow? "Just follow some of the others. They'll be going in a group; don't follow the ones going off on their own, because they have their own homes. If you run into any trouble just say you're a Cosk. Just say that when you need a room too. You'll get one." She paused, then as if sensing my question added, "Don't ask how we arranged this. I have no clue. I don't even remember it happening." With that, she ducked her head and left.

Marie shook her head. Something very weird was going on here, and it seemed to be affecting her. All of this seemed almost… normal.

* * *

Mel stood by the meeting room, sighing. Everyone was there, including that new girl. Another battle, another day, there was always something else. Something else to make her skin crawl and make her want to cry like a baby.

She barely noticed how they got there, or how everyone was concealed. It didn't matter anymore. They were used to it. She was used to it.

All she'd remember later, she knew, was the screams. Those were always there. And the way the day always seemed to be dreary, yet never rain. The adrenaline at the pit of Mel's stomach felt sort of like depression, or anxiety. That pit in her stomach.

The building looked dreary too. It looked like a dump, admittedly a large dump, though she knew that was only to make it look like it wasn't important. The people in there knew something about them, she could feel it as she crawled down the street towards the huge building. There was almost no detail; everything just seemed to settle on whatever she focused on.

Vaguely Mel noted Marie near her, and gestured the girl over. "Hey," she whispered. "I found a way to get in, come on, it's right over here." She turned and crept around the corner and took the screen out of the window. "Too easy," she muttered. It opened into a room with lots of fans.

Mel fell over on the floor, collapsing from laughter. Marie looked at the other girl, a confused look on her face. This wasn't the same girl from the meeting room, was it?

"Sorry," said Mel, standing up. "Just remembering how I would complain about how in every movie or book-slash-book series, at least almost all of them, someone crawls through a ventilation shaft." She grinned and gestured towards a screen, which looked like it opened up into exactly that, and one large enough for them to crawl through too.

"How are we going to get the screen off, though?" wondered Marie.

"That? No problem!" Mel grabbed each side and pried it off. "I don't know how I do it, it just happens," she responded at the other girl's questioning look. "Come on!"

As they crawled through the vent, the leader suddenly stopped. She gulped, and her eyes suddenly seemed to dilate.

"Mel? What's going on?" asked Marie, who was answered only by silence…

Abruptly the vision-- or whatever it was-- ended, and Mel was back in the cramped passageway. "What happened?" she demanded of Marie.

"I don't know, you just stopped a moment and started whispering, 'you're not her' or something like that."

"So I wasn't out long?"

"No, you weren't. What happened?"

Mel nodded, and started on her way. "Nothing, just my imagination or something. Nothing important." She was convinced of that; she was!

Nonetheless, the words "You're not Mel!" echoed through her head over and over, and the girl couldn't help but shudder as the cold metal hit against her bare knees as they searched for a place to attack.