From Dreams to Reality [Amatsu, or Invite]

Running. She was running hard and fast but no matter how fast she ran each time she looked behind herself they were closing in. Her legs burned, her chest hurt, and she could barely breath: yet she knew she couldn't stop. She couldn't let them get her. She wouldn't survive what they wanted to do to her, how they wanted to punish her.

Josie looked back once more only to find herself tripping over something that came up out of the ground. She fell forward and hit the black floor. Around her this floor began to break away, crumbling like dry and stale bread. She attempted to scramble to her feet only to find the ground beneath her cracking and splitting before breaking away. She began to fall; screaming at the top of her lungs as she began to fall into what was a bottomless pit. And then a pale hand was grabbing her out stretched arm as a naked male with a pyramid on his head caught her and hauled her up out of this hole.

Josie looked behind her only to see that they were right there. They reached for her and she screamed as she felt their hands touch her, grab her...

Josie sat up, panting in bed, and screaming just as she had done in her dream. She reached up quickly and slapped both of her hands over her mouth to shut herself up. Tears were streaming down her cheeks and she was breathing as if she truly had been running for her life. She could only hope she hadn't woken up the whole house with her screaming – it had been going on longer then she thought after all because she had been screaming in her sleep, too.

Josie reached next to her with her right hand while keeping her left over her mouth: she couldn't trust herself not to scream again. She fumbled around blindly until she found the lamp and then ran her hand over the smooth surface until she found the button that would turn it on. A press of this button had the room lighting up in its dim soft lighting.

Still breathing hard Josie looked around her brand new bedroom: it was familiar enough to be comforting. Just as she was beginning to calm down though she saw something that didn't belong: a pale bodied, clearly male individual with a white butchers smock stained in blood wrapped around his waist but whom was otherwise naked. This male had a strange pyramid shaped object covering his head, but he was horrifying just the same – and familiar.

A short scream proceeded a jump of shock and once more both of her hands were put over her mouth. “P... Pyra?” She wasn't scared of him; but she had been startled by him being there all the same – he had only ever lived in her dreams, not in her reality. Pyra, seemingly startled by her reaction to him, dropped to one knee as he did in her dreams when attempting to appear less threatening. He stretched his arms out to her, clearly wanting her, but not wanting to scare her: he was her protector, he was supposed to keep her safe from her fears.

The young male awoke with a start -- was that a scream? Who could be screaming at this time of the night? Mama was out a party with friends, and Daddy was headed to Hana on a business trip. Who was screa-- oh god no.

"JOSIE!"

He rolled out of bed, silently thankful he'd taken to wearing at the very least underwear since Josie had come to live with him. He was on his feet in less than a second, gold eyes staring at the wall. Josie's room was next to his, with her bed on the far wall. While he could have easily gone out the door, through the hall and into her room, that would be wasting precious time. No..

He could feel the heat in the air around him, and instantly knew he wasn't alone. With a small grin, he pointed at the wall that separated him and Josie.

"SHOW YOUR FLAMES!" It was the spoken command, the one that would make it VERY clear that it was time to fight. Immediately, the heat surged forward, taking shape and forming into his companion, Ifrit. Ifrit was ready for war; his body taken shape of his true form; ten feet tall, and several hundred pounds of fangs, fur and flames smashing through the wall into the next bedroom, sending burning chunks of plaster scattering about. His purpose was clear to him, and very much understood; Josie was to be protected as if she were Amatsu himself.

Before the could even settle, the flame demon would attempt to tackle the strange man kneeling at Josie's side, snarling and breathing flames. If he were successful, he would take this man on one hell of a ride, turning them both into a literal fireball as he would angle himself to roll with man through the door and into the grand hallway, clawing at him as they went.

Pyra's head jerked in the direction of the breaking wall, and he positioned himself as fast as possible between himself and Josie. Pyra allowed this flaming demon to tackle him and take them both out into the hallway because it kept the angry demon away from his Josie: even if he ended up injured in the process. Of course, Pyra recognized him: Ifrit. “Ifrit!”, Pyra spoke: it was a rare occurrence, he chose to grunt and gesture to get his point across the majority of the time, but in this situation he was willing to speak. “Calm yourself. I'm not here to harm anyone.” Of course, time would tell if his words got through: his Josie had already been screaming enough for one evening, and he wanted to keep it from happening again.

Josie meanwhile had watched Ifrit break through the wall; or rather she could only guess that that was Ifrit. She had only ever saw him looking like Amatsu after all. Ifrit was on Pyra and taking him out into the hall before Josie could even blink – though she did register that Pyra had attempted to put himself between Ifrit and her. Protecting her. Just as he had always done in her dreams.

“How... He.... Pyra...” Josie stopped, swallowed, and attempted to speak again despite her still ragged breathing. “He's been in my dreams and my nightmares, always protecting me. And then... I had a nightmare. And he attempted to save me.. I woke up.. and he was... in my room.” God, she hadn't been this confused in a very long time, and she couldn't say that she enjoyed the feeling at all.

The flame demon would pause as the creature beneath him spoke to him, calling his name as Amatsu stepped through the smoldering hole in the wall. Amatsu slid over to Josie, wrapping an arm around her in an attempt to calm her down. "Its okay, Josie. You're gonna be alright, Josie..."

He would pause for a moment, hearing her speak about this creature, Pyra? "Who is he, Josie? You've seen him in your dreams?" That was strange, but not completely unheard of; he could rememeber the days leading up to him meeting Ifrit. He was always overheated during the day, and at night, his dreams were filled with flames. On the night Ifrit first appeared, he himself was having a nightmare when he woke up and the flame demon was in his room.

Perhaps these instances were connected?

"Ifrit? You alright out there?"

"I am unharmed, though shocked. I know this creature." Interesting thing to know.

"Really now...? Come in here, and bring him with you."

Josie leaned lightly against Amatsu when he put his arm around her: she didn't normally allow people to touch her, but she trusted him and knew he wouldn't hurt her. She was calming, but slowly. She couldn't understand why Pyra was suddenly here and not in her dreams where he usually haunted. At Amatsu's question she glanced towards where Ifrit and Pyra had gone and then back to him. “Ever since I was a very little girl, for as long as I can remember really, he's been in my dreams. Anytime I have a nightmare he's there, saving me. Sometimes even when I was having good dreams he'd show up. When Haun forced drugs into me, and I was unconscious, Pyra was there... he always made me feel better, and protected me.”

Her brows furrowed as she tried to think back to when Pyra had actually first appeared. “I started seeing him when I was really little; maybe two I think. I told my parents about him but they just got angry and told me not to talk about it.”

Pyra, if Ifrit had entered back into the room, would look towards Josie and speak once more, “Those people weren't your parents, Josie...”

Josie's head would jerk up, her gaze focusing completely on Pyra. “Wha... what?” She was confused: not only was Pyra claiming her parents weren't her own, but Ifrit had mentioned knowing him...

“They're not your parents, Josie. They took you from your real family..”

Amatsu's brow furrowed somewhat; this was sounding very familiar. It was a case of deja vu, only it wasnt happening to him.  As he listed to Pyra speak, saying that the people who raised Josie were not her real parents, it began to click.

As Ifrit would settle back into the room, quickly changing shape so that he once more resembled Amatsu, the boy grinned. To Pyra he would turn his attention, offering a hand. "I think I know.. you're like Ifrit!" He then clapped his hands, giggling.

It would explain alot; given how Josie said that she saw Pyra in her dreams for so long; but that would also make Josie...

"Josie... if he's like Ifrit.. that would make you related to me!"

Amatsu would turn back to Josie, grinning wide now, gold eyes lit up wt the prospect. "I.. I will explain what I mean. Ifrit here is my guardian, one given to me through my family. Remember, my last name isn't Kurosaki like mama and daddy, but Kishou. My real family.. they have a special contract with a set of spirits that call themselves collectively the Divine Court. Each member of my family is bonded with a Court member at birth; that spirit is the person's guardian! So, if you've been seeing Pyra your whole life, and if he and Ifrit know each other, then that MUST mean that you're a Kishou too!" When he finished speaking, he giggled again, clasping a hand over his mouth to try to contain his happiness. Ifrit sighed, the spoke.

"What my enthusiastic ward is saying here must be true. A member of the court only appears to the one they are bonded with; first appearing in dreams until they are manifested by way of a special ritual when the child is two years old. If the court member is not summoned this way, it can take some time for them to gather enough power break through the barrier that seperates our world from yours."

It really made a lot of sense: the people who raised her had never gone above and beyond to make her feel welcome, to make her feel as if she were a part of the family. They treated Eli better then they did her, even though they both got into their fair share of trouble. She had no reason to doubt what Pyra was saying, but then what did that mean for her real parents? Where they still alive? Why did she grow up without knowing them?

And then she was jarred from her thoughts by Amatsu's statement of them being related if Pyra was like Ifrit. This caused her own excitement to blossom and a smile formed on her face. She listened as Amatsu explained about Ifrit and how he had been given to him through a special ritual when he was two years old. Considering she had seen Pyra in her dreams all her life, and the fact that he was indeed like Ifrit, that meant that she was a Kishou too, and that meant her and Amatsu were somehow related.

Her attention then turned onto Ifrit as he finished explaining since Amatsu was trying to contain his happiness. Given that this ritual hadn't happened when Josie was two years old, it had taken Pyra a lot longer to leave their world and enter into this one.

Her attention then shifted over to Pyra who was standing very still. He was looking straight at her: apparently he had eyes for no one else at the moment. He had been waiting for this moment for a very long time, and didn't want to make it harder then it had to be. Slowly Josie pulled the sheets and blanket off of herself – thankfully, she had thought to fall asleep in a very long night shirt – and got out of bed. She crossed the few steps that separated Pyra and herself and Pyra once more knelt down with his arms open. She didn't hesitate to hug him with a giggle. “I'm glad you're real. I wished for so long that you were...”

“I know, and I'm sorry it took this long, Josie.”, Pyra responded as he slowly returned her hug.

She then looked back to Amatsu, grinning from ear to ear. “So, we're related... small world.”