A Star Removed from the Sky

Attack in the Forest

Natsu was standing in the golden field of his dreams, turning around to see who had called out to him. Their voice ran through the air, surrounding him completely with happiness. It was like the smell from the blanket, so familiar yet so foreign, and it filled him with longing. He couldn't deny the feelings welling up in his chest; he was so excited to see this person!

When he turned around though, there was no one there.

Well, no one distinguishable anyway. What he saw was a blob in the shape of a person, with no features to be identified about them. The blob was grey with black around the edges of its figure, the colors moving around within its shape like liquid in a container. It was so strange, like a painting that had been smudged around, except in his vision right in front of him. All the color around them was blurred as well; he couldn't even tell what color their hair was or what kind of clothes they were wearing, how tall they were or where their specific limbs were. Their voice was vaguely feminine sounding, but also slightly distorted in his head. It sounded like four different voices combined into one, creating an echo to their words. It felt like something was tampering with his mind.

"What are you doing?" The figure asked. "You look like you've seen a ghost." There seemed to be a playful tone in their voice.

Natsu squinted at the mysterious blob, trying to get a better look, but the more he focused, the more distorted they became. "Who are you?"

The figure seemed to tilt its head to the side based on how the blob moved. "What do you mean? It's me of course."

"Yeah that doesn't help when I don't know who "me" is. What's your name?" Natsu questioned bluntly.

"Jeez are you feeling alright? It's me, -." They said with a slight laugh. Their laugh sounded strange, but he could tell even with the distortion that he loved the sound of it.

"What?" Natsu asked again. The sound of their name came out as jumbled syllables, like hundreds of words were being spoken at the same time. "I can't understand you at all, what the hell kind of language are you speaking?"

"The same as you dummy!" They laughed again after their small outburst at him.

"There's no way what you said was anything remotely understandable! Please, this is important, I really need to know your name. And then why you're in my secret field." Natsu took a step towards them.

"Pssh, your secret field?" They joked until they saw the serious look on Natsu's face. The figure huffed to themselves and sighed slightly. "Whatever, I'll say it again, but you'd better listen this time, okay Natsu?"

His heart skipped a beat at the sound of them saying his name. "Okay, just tell me again." He eagerly awaited their next words, leaning towards them in anticipation.

He imagined they were smiling, a bright smile to match their beautiful laugh. "Alright weirdo, my name is-"

But the world around him started to change while they spoke, destroying any chance at hearing their name as the environment started to swallow him up. He reached out to take the hand of the figure, barely touching what he thought was their fingertips before he started falling into an abyss that opened in the ground. He watched the figure grow farther and farther away from him. His thoughts began racing while he fell, no end in sight.

And then he woke up in a cold sweat, reaching his arm above him while he laid on his back, as if still trying to reach for the figure in his dream. He was breathing heavily because of the adrenaline from dreaming of falling such a great distance. Once he processed that he was awake, he put his arm back down at his side and grasped at his blanket in frustration.