Glass Dreams
By Monica Shin

Satsuki glanced out at the Dreamscape, expecting to see one of the dragons. Perhaps the one their Kamui had brought in, the very thin Dreamgazer who had seemed quite physically weak -- but she had had an interesting time trying to dig up information about him from the data networks. It was rather strange to note that people without identities were popping up in greater frequency as the promised day drew closer -- and that her power did not aid her side as she had thought it would. Still, at least she wasn't bored.

Another voice interrupted her musings, and Satsuki turned to see a young man standing, looking at her through what looked like a wall of glass. He was wearing a simple white shirt and black pants, and gave the impression of spareness. He reached out and touched the glass, as did she. It was absolutely clear and slick, yet it was so thick that it was inconceivable that anything could break through it.

Satsuki asked the question idly, as the man didn't match any of people in her files. He was no player in the Final Ending... She frowned as her mind stretched to reach Beast and found she couldn't link with it. Now, that was odd -- she always had a connection open to-

He smiled gently as he asked his question. She stared back at him, and sensed... strangeness. An indefinable aura of 'other -- while he was not one of the Dragons, he could be a danger. She thought for a moment, and then answered with more information, more truth than she usually would have.

He nodded, and answered her challenge with his answer. Slowly, he knelt, and then pulled up the sleeve of his shirt to reveal a tattoo. No, not a tattoo -- an identification marking, complete with code and the label of 'Clover'.

Satsuki looked back at Lan, and both analyzed the small bit of information given to each. She wondered what he saw -- a girl with rather large glasses, hair tied back except for bangs rebelliously lightened in color. Wearing a shirt, shorts, sneakers. Finally, he asked a question in his light monotone.

Satsuki looked around the Dreamscape, which had come to resemble a clean, cold white square, with the glass separation running straight down the diagonal. She frowned slightly, and then tried to link to Beast again. Finally, she gave up, and gazed into the other side of the cube.

He moved his hand in front of him for a moment, as if expecting to touch something, move something. Finally, he too gave up, and answered her in a slightly puzzled tone.

Satsuki nodded, and gazed at him intently. She tried to access the files without Beast, but just couldn't remember if she had ever processed any information about him. Finally, she gave a small sigh of frustration.

Lan looked at her, and replied to her question in a mechanical manner. His whole body was stiff even in the comfortable position he was in as he sat on the floor.

Satsuki started a little, and then nodded.

Satsuki wondered why she had said that. Something had almost prompted her to... because she wasn't the most special, for all that she was a dragon. For a moment, the glass reflected both of them as they would be in real life -- covered and connected to wires, cables, plastics and sensors. A tool, for all they were worth.

Lan closed his eyes and turned so that his head rested on the glass which was now behind him, disassociating himself from the brief reflection of the wires. Remembering Suu, he sighed.

Satsuki's question reverberated in the small, white room. Almost a desperate cry, but without conceding any power to the child saying it. Lan turned his body to look through the glass again, and remembered Suu, shining so brightly...

Lan smiled as he said this, and around him the Dreamscape misted and changed. Suddenly, another man was there, his arms folded around Lan. Lan smiled up at the figment and then leaned his head back against the blonde man's chest.

Satsuki looked at Lan, who smiled quietly back at her. Lan's hand went up to entangle itself into the blonde's hair, gazing up at the other man's eyes. Then, his eyes went back to meet Satsuki's through the glass.

Satsuki was about to reply that her machines all thought her most special. But somehow, as she looked at Lan, she couldn't say it. Did anyone think Yatouji Satsuki the person -- not the Dragon of Heaven with all the powers that involved that appellation -- was the most important?

Even as she said it, somehow, a stray memory crossed her mind. One of a smiling face looking up at her as she was in Beast. She had focused a camera on him rather obviously, but he ignored all of that, and had called out to her in his light, cheerful voice. To her, through all the wires and cables surrounding her body, ignoring all of outside manifestations of her power...

Satsuki looked around as the space around her suddenly started to mist. Finally, the fog cleared and an insubstantial being, face somehow obscured, was standing next to her. A figure on the verge of being true.

The figure knelt beside her, and put one hand onto her cheek. She stared at the being for a moment, able to make out a bright smile and well-tailored clothing. Finally, she glanced at Lan, who nodded.

Satsuki put a hand onto the slightly translucent hand on her cheek, and then sighed. It felt warm, solid- and smelled of a certain scent that seemed light, but insinuated deeper undertones into her senses.

Lan stood up as the glass barrier started to crack, raining down small, sharp fragments onto the Dreamscape. As they were about to hit her, the figure stood above her, shielding her body from the jagged pieces. She looked up to see blue eyes smiling down on her, and then stood up herself.

Lan held out a hand, and upon it was a small, round pedestal. Satsuki reached out and took it, and gasped as she saw an angel with butterfly wings, who started to sing a haunting song. Then, gazing even more deeply, she saw another girl inside the hologram, with a sadder, sweeter expression and a voice that blended with the angel's.

Lan and his lover faded away from her view, and she was left with the song, and her imagination's recreation of Yuuto. Gazing at him, she allowed herself to feel for a moment all the frustration and longing that she never even knew she had wanted to feel, all those times she's seen him leave with Kanoe...

In a place without destiny, and time, Satsuki took Yuuto's hand into hers and took off her glasses. With a small smile, she closed her eyes and let her dream compact into a small glass globe inside her heart. A secret place where even Beast could not get into.

Satsuki opened her eyes to the visor of Beast, and felt the machines prod her for information. Around her mind, they all wanted to know why she had not been linked to their networks for a moment during the night. She patted Beast and told it to open up, and unlinked from the connections.

In her secret place, the barrier stayed up. It was the strongest barrier against her machines, who could not comprehend the slick surface, could not even see it present in her heart. It was the weakest against the slightest weapon Yuuto may lay against her heart- something that he would never do.

In her heart, the angel sang on.

In her wishes, he sat within the glass and cradled her in his arms.

---Finis---