(WORK IN PROGRESS)
All around the world, people are sleeping, and dreaming.

It is, after all, a fundamental process of most animals, and unlocks the deeper parts of the mind to new, exciting measures. Everything dreams, but not everything looks into it. It is the nature of a human to try and understand, to dissect the possibilities of the seemingly impossible, and to use it to their advantage. All the way through time itself, there are beings who took dreaming to an entirely different plane. These anomalies in the genetic code have the ability to make their dreams into a reality.

And even now, scattered across the surface of the Earth, a group of Anomalies are going to bed, all of them completely unaware of their own power and all of them expectantly awaiting the dream.

The dream...for the past two weeks, the Anomalies have suffered from the same dream - meeting a young girl in outlandish, spectacular places and doing what is told of them. First they fall asleep, then the sinking feeling starts - as if they were about to fall into a bottomless pit, and suddenly the blackness disappears quickly like a light switch was turned on.

Perhaps not the most impressive of sights to see in a dream, but they've all arrived on the same rooftop - scraps of litter fluttering around in the breeze, the pigeons cooing and flapping their wings, the distant rumble of cars far below. To their left is a sharp, steep drop. To their right is a cast iron wall, peeling rust and paint. Some may be disappointed; it's not beautiful and breathtaking like it usually is. They've got reason to believe that she brought them all together like this - usually, they're on their own with her.

"Don't fall off, okay?" teased the girl, getting to her feet. Her hair seems to move on it's own accord, as if suspended in fluid. Her eyes are bright and full of childlike innocence, and her smile is confident and mischievous. "You've got a few minutes to say hi to each other, then we'll begin." she added, dismissively, and left them all standing on that rooftop as she leapt over the massive iron wall. They can hear her footsteps as she rushed off somewhere.

You're not too sure what it is, but you've got an odd feeling about this - something settling in the pit of your stomach, warning you against something. But that doesn't matter much - it's a dream, you can wake up at any time.

Right?

Another dream... Raphael wasn't even sure whatever it's stress or the drugs, or both. But he was never able to dream lucidly, and for him to get those dreams now. It did not make any sense. Either way, he was rather intrigued, especially with the other people standing before him. They looked real, but then again, so did everything else. "So, you're a part of my dream too? Care to introduce yourselves. Heck, I should know who you are, I am the one dreaming after all." His musings were only met with a confused look. "Look, whatever. This is my dream, and if she can jump that high, so can I. If you have any sort of purpose in the dream, I will find you again anyway." By now, Raphael has started to enjoy those dreams. They were nothing like his drug induced trips in the past, which were quite surreal to begin with. This was fun, and his mind wasn't all cloudy. Of course, nothing made any sense, but it's just a dream, right? So he decided to just enjoy himself. Who knows, maybe this will include the quality of his sleep. And boy will he need all the energy he has in the upcoming tour in a week.

And so, he took a few steps back and started running towards the wall, jumping with all his strength, launching himself over the wall. At that moment of flight, Raphael considered taking up sky diving. On the other side of the wall however, was....

"I'm falling...? And I... I know that I'm falling? But I'm not scared... and I'm not waking up."[/i]

Alphonse fell for a seemingly endless amount of time before the darkness surrounding him dissipated and revealed a brighter scene. He landed softly on a high rooftop with his eyes closed. [b]"I think I stopped. But where?" His eyes fluttered but wouldn't open immediately. "Open, dammit." Then with sheer intensity his eyes burst open and he suddenly saw two others standing near him, along with an ominous girl who was all too familiar to Al at this point. It's you again but who are these people, Al thought to himself. He sat there confused and fearful despite this being but a simple dream. But lately, that's not all they were. He hadn't been sleeping well due to the recurring dreams that felt so real, so different from the world he had grown up with to this day. Al inhaled deeply, then exhaled still staying silent. Then she spoke.

"Don't fall off, okay? You've got a few minutes to say hi to each other, then we'll begin." Then in a flash the girl jumped away from the group. Al almost reached out to stop her but he couldn't make himself move. So instead he looked more closely at the other two. Two other men, very much different from each other and himself. His inspections garnered little information, however, for one began speaking with great confidence. He spoke as if this were his dream rather than Al's. Alphonse tried to convince himself that this was some figment of his imagination meant to signify his lack of confidence as a human being, and that theory was further proven when the figment began leaving. The man jumped up high and easily cleared the wall to the right of Al. I wonder if that works for me, too. Al closed his eyes and focused on his body becoming weightless. Fly, Al. Fly. Or jump to the sky. Or float. Just levitate a little.

Suddenly, he opened his eyes once more and noted that his endeavors had been successful. He was seemingly weightless. His body was hovering just above the ground, a good foot of space between his feet and the hard rooftop. Wow... this feeling is... great." With a smile, Al attempted to push upwards and fly higher. However he simply stayed where he was. No matter how much he focused he couldn't move from his spot. Frustrated and defeated, Al slumped his shoulders and sighed briefly. He was still hovering... or was he? Looking down, Al saw a faint outline of material beneath his feet. With a puzzled expression Alphonse focused on the bottom of his feet. What could he feel? It was solid. The air around his feet was as solid as the ground itself. Hm? Alphonse thought for a moment before attempting to step forward while balancing on the piece of solid air he had somehow formed beneath him. And that step proved his theory: he was able to walk on air! Each step was more and more awkward, but Al smiled brightly as he seemingly climbed nothingness. Soon he looked down and saw the rooftop, which had become rather small at this point. He could also see a marvelous dreamscape of buildings and detail, along with the confident figment further off in the distance and the other mystery man as well.

"Now where is the girl?"

"Is my mind really that screwed up? I am being yelled at by figments of my imagination, which I didn't know I even had." The novelty of flight and lucid dreaming quickly wore off, and Raphael started feeling really uncomfortable, just like some bad trips he had when he was inexperienced with psychedelics. While Sera was a prominent figure in his previous dreams, the others were not. And he could not recognize any of them. But he should! If he sees them, they must have been significant or present in his life at one point or another. Manifestations of hardcore fans from Twitter or Facebook maybe? Even more oddly, Raphael didn't have complete control over the dream - Sera did. Curious on what she can do, he got a brilliant idea, at least according to him. "Introduction, huh? I've got a better idea than your tic tac toe. Give me an electric guitar, make a stage around here, and I'll give you one very metal introduction. Rocking out in the dream world to the figments of his own imagination, there can't be anything more metal than that.

Another night another dream, Lucius found himself drifting to sleep as he usually did, late into the night book in hand and bedroom window open, giving the night breeze free reign inside his room. The sensation he had come to know over the past two weeks rushed through like a cascade, as he felt himself sinking into what felt like eternity. Abruptly Lucius felt his feet touch solid ground as a rooftop and several figures appeared before him. A city scape two men, and the girl, the girl who had stalked his dreams, all registered to his senses.

He had come to be fascinated by this strange girl whose presence had become ubiquitous to his nightly activities. Over the past two weeks he had listened to her commands, carrying them out with reluctant suspicion, questioning her motives every step of the way. It seemed to him that she regarded him as some sort of plaything, or pet project or experiment. While this dynamic had been intriguing to him in the past, the presence of the two other men muddled the mystique he had begun to build up around his relationship with the strange woman.

As she began to speak to them, he noticed her hair, as it wisped slowly through the air as if they all were underwater. “Are we underwater?” As the thought occurred to him he felt a weight encapsulate him, and his hands and feet began to feel weight. Lucius looked down at his own body, his white crew neck shirt and black basketball shorts appeared to be drenched in water. The man with the long dark hair spoke to him, but his words seemed to be garbled and muffed. Lucius simply looked at him with a perplexed expression, as he lept off the side of the rooftop. The other shorter man seemed to have said something as well, but his words were just as muffled to Lucius as the first. “It doesn’t matter, you two can play the role of her toys tonight” Lucius thought as he turned his back and walked to the opposite side of the rooftop. Each step was harried by what felt like the weight of water, as if he were walking on the ocean floor. He looked out over the sprawling city scape and thought that he would rather be elsewhere. “These buildings represent man’s knowledge and achievement upon this Earth, but these sparkling towers of steel and concrete also mark the soul crushing reality of modern life. The life of modern man can be quite banal indeed, forced into mundane routines and conformity, huddled into these hives of industry to labor and toil all in the name of capitalism and consumerism.” Lucius said out loud, as if speaking to some far off visitor unfamiliar with Earth and humanity.

Lucius’s musing were brought to an abrupt halt as the entire city scape vanished, leaving only a white plane. He turned to see the other three in the distance, and with no other subjects of interest being anywhere in sight, he began to make his way over.

edit - double post, don't know how to delete

"As for you," said the girl, suddenly right behind Alphonse. She grabbed his wrist, skidding down an invisible hill towards the others, hoping to keep him from walking around on the air. "I'm glad you've figured that out, but honestly." Then she dumped him off next to everyone else once again. Al was now extra confused. He was the one dreaming and yet this girl had the innate ability to more than easily control him. Did his mind hate Al that much that it wouldn't even let him control his personal domain in a lucid dream? Or was this something else, something deeper and different? And what did she mean when she said he had figured something out...? Al shook his head to regain some composure and the girl then introduced herself as Sera. She was obviously urging everyone to get to know one another. Of course first blood went to the long-haired man yet again as he suddenly proposed a "metal introduction." Al wasn't too fond of this more brash individual so far and wondered what his story (if there even is one, considering this is a dream) was. Alphonse took a breath and stepped back a little. He didn't see a stage form or anything so he decided to speak. "Um... I'll be simple with mine. No gimmicks. Um... I'm Alphonse Garret." After speaking, Al looked at the white "floor" and waited for another break in the silence.

"Now this is more like it! Raphael said while checking the tuning of the guitar and hopping on the stage. While he didn't have much power over the dream, he wondered if he can do more than just jump very high into the air. As he turn to the measly audience, he focused very hard to remember the stages he performed on. Amps, huge speakers, lights appeared all around, as well as flames sprouting from the front of the stage. He remembered his favorite guitar solo, and the speakers starting playing the drums, waiting for Raphael to start. Taking a deep breath, he let it rip

And with that done, he threw his hands triumphantly in the air, fireworks accompanying him. This is what he lived for - the adrenaline, the addicting noise of the crowd and the guitars being shredded. As he wanted to get off the stage, thorned vines started spreading outwards from him, engulfing the stage. "Oh come on, NOT HERE! NOT AGAIN! The nightmare, all but forgotten for years, has returned. Copious therapy has cured Raphael of constant thorny red nightmares, but the irrational fear still lingered. And here he is, lucid dreaming, trapped by ever growing mass of red, thorny roses. Unwilling to show weakness, even to his own psyche, he closed his eyes, took a deep breath, and imagined the back stage after a successful performance. Eventually, the vines trapping him started to shrink and fade, as Raphael has finally leaped off the stage.

"The roses were not planned, but I guess they were kinda... metal." Raphael was visibly shaken. Nightmarish massive tentacles? No problem, he has seen worse while on acid. Red roses - nearly freezing in terror. Of course, that's what happens when you're a small child and manage to fall into a patch of thorned roses, especially when it took half an hour to find you. While no physical scars remained, Raphael's mind was scarred forever. Luckily for him, fame gave him money, money to get therapy. Suggestion? Embrace your fear until it goes away. The nick name "Killer Rose", the tattoo, it helped tremendously, though a minor uneasiness around the roses still remained. And now, after all these years, it comes back. "Well, at least I didn't freeze in fear and start crying, so that's progress." he thought to himself.

"Alright, that's it for now. Unfortunately, I can't drag my mates here to my dream, so I can't give you the real deal. But enough about me, show me who, or what, you are." Raphael said, while looking at the rest of the group. Were they figments of his psyche, or something else, he honestly did not care anymore. He kinda wanted to wake up, but was also curious on how this will unravel.