Remembering You

Prologue

It was the same dream he had been having for as long he could remember. It was always so nostalgic, as If he had actually walked through that exact part of the forest before. As if those events had taken place in some past that never happened. As if he had lived through the particular event in more than just his dreams.

He knew exactly what would happen. They would start out flying through the woods on maneuver gear, blades in hand just in case of trouble, and then land on the soft dirt, walking for a little while until he woke up. That such a small jaunt through those woods would be so painstakingly slow and fill his mind with strange longing was something he had never experienced before. He could not describe exactly what was happening in his mind. No words were able to explain the muffled, cloudy sensation stifling his thoughts, weighing down his heart. It was like he was simultaneously alive, yet not alive; in a state of trance-like being that did not exist.

As things unfolded around him, he was both a participant and observer. The sensations of rushing through the trees, pushing his limbs, forcing himself faster through the branches, came to him. Yet he was not able to control the movement itself, it merely happened. He could not move his arms or legs, and whatever happened did so without his conscious will. He was not in control of his own body, something else was propelling him forward into the known dream, yet unknown abyss. He had tried screaming before, asking what was going on, seeking an answer to his questions, but no sound escaped.

Like the Wings of Freedom, which stylized the outfits he wore in the Scouting Legion, they flew through the woods as if free. But that wasn't true. The wind rushing through his hair, the exhilaration, and the pounding of his heart, was present, but it was different. He knew he was not really free having experienced the actual sensation of sailing freely through the air. Here, he was powerless to alter course. They only went forward. Always forward amongst those densely packed trees. He wished they could change it up, or rather be able to control what was happening. See what else existed in the dream. Or perhaps even rewind to the part before they took off in the trees.

But it wasn't just the events which unfolded that seemed so hauntingly familiar. It should not have been anything but a recurring figment of his imagination, but it seemed so much more than that. There was something about the path they had taken, as if there was some meaning to where they were going, what they were doing, and why they were doing it. His dreaming mind couldn't think of any purpose, any rationale, any meaning to the happenings going on, yet the sensation remained.

The stranger was good, almost godlike, as he flew effortlessly, never stopping or looking back. He considered himself one of the best within the Legion, yet the shadow in front of him always seemed to be just that much better. He was never able to keep up. Angling his hooks and releasing the line seemed easy enough, but each of his actions was just a fraction of a second too slow to reach the person in front of him. It was not like they were fleeing from something or running towards someone; he could feel no urgency aside from the pure sensation of being airborne, wingless, through the woods. But the blur escaped his grasp every time.

Like all his other dreams, they made their way through the thick branches even as dusk fell. The shadows seemed to distort their passage through the dense forest, but even though there was not much light, he knew they would not crash. The shadow in front of him remained a mere blur. If they had been in the real world, he would have doubted his ability to see and keep up with the person in front. His legs were screaming from the exertion, and even though he knew it wouldn't happen, he didn't want to lose sight of the figure in front of him. Heart pounding from adrenaline and anxiety as they flew through the woods, they covered large distances with each leap. Then, mimicking the blur in front of him, he dropped to the ground. He had no concept of how far they had travelled before he reeled in his grappling hooks.