Dreaming of summer days

It was all her fault.

Even when her father forbade her, she still went into the forest to explore it. Forcing her big brother to come with her so that she could play among the crisp forest trees and dewy grass, to enjoy the morning breeze as she ran and explored to her heart's content.

But that was a mistake.

For as she was playing among the trees and the bushes, a large beast leapt out of the trees and pinned her down. If her brother hadn't acted quickly, she would have been dead.

And as she lay there, with her brother and the beast locked in blade and claw, more beasts emerged from the forest. All of them hissing and drooling, with a bestial hunger in their eyes.

She remembered shrieking and she remembered scrambling to her brother's side.

She also remembered her brother taking one look at her and the beasts, before pushing the beast he was locked against backwards with a kick.

"RUN!" She remembered him yelling, swing his sword to drive away the beasts, "Run away and get to safety! I'll stay here and drive the beasts off!"

And so she ran.

She ran and she ran, her body crashing through the forest as she desperately tried to escape the beasts that were hunting her.

Through thickets and branches, bushes and leaves, she rushed through the foliage of the forest, uncaring of the scratches and wounds she received as she broke through them.

Despite the distance and the amount of time she ran, it seemed like she never moved forward at all, every bush and branch she broke through seemed so similar to the last and every time she looked behind her, the forest clearing was never too far away.

'Brother Musashi... Where are you? Please save me, I'm scared.'

She felt tears forming in her eyes, but quickly blinked them away, her tears would only block her vision and would only make her trip.

She couldn't afford to trip, she had to keep running, she had to keep moving or else the beasts would catch her and this time, her brother Musashi might not be able to save her.

But as she ran and ran, a hiss broke through her panicked thoughts causing her to increase her push her body to the limits to run away from the noise.

But from the unnatural stillness of the forest around her, the large beast from earlier leapt out from the shadows to block her path, it's reddish-black scales gleamed in the sunlight and it's fangs dripped with blood.

At the sight of the beast, she halts and shrieks, tripping over her feet and landing face first in front of the beast, who seemed to laugh as it slowly approached her frozen and shaking form.

As the beast inched closer and closer, there was nothing she could do but sob and shake, as she lay there helplessly on the ground.

And as she lay there, she closed her eyes and curled herself into a ball and called out to her brother.

"Brother... Brother where are you? I'm so sorry, Please... Please help me brother. I don't want to die, please save me."

With a roar, the beast leapt to devour her and she felt something impact her body, she felt herself roll against the ground and stop as she hit a tree. The pain of the impact forcing her eyes wide open, her vision swam and turned spotty as her body lanced with pain from the impact.

But eventually she regained her breath staggered to her feet, groaning slightly as she steadied herself to look at what sent her flying to the tree.

And what she saw shocked her to the core.

Lying on the ground before her was her brother, with his right arm gone and his face totally bloodied. His clothes were ripped, torn and stained red with blood that was still flowing and pooling around him.

Beside him lay the large beast dead, still open-mouthed, courtesy of her brother's sword impaled right through it's neck.

But the beast didn't matter, her brother was dying and it was all her fault.

"BROTHER!" she shrieked and slowly stumbled her way over to her brother's side and sobbed as she took a closer look at the state he was in.

He was dying, he was really dying and it was her fault.

It was all her fault.

"Brother," she sobbed, slowly shaking her brother's body, "Brother please wake up, I'm sorry. Don't die... Please... Brother...! Brother!"

Her eyes brimmed with tears once more as she continued to shake her brother, crying and sobbing all the while. Begging for him to wake up and cursing herself for causing this to happen.

Eventually she began to tire and her injuries began to take it's toll on her. Her head began to spin and darkness began to creep across the edges of her vision.

With ragged breaths, she slowly slumped over her brother and held him in a protective embrace as her eyes drifted shut.

'Am...I dying here too?... I'm so tired... I want to sleep... But I have to... get brother... to safety... I have to go... to... s-sleep...'

"Brother... I'm sorry."

And as she fell asleep the world shifted, the forest changed, the sun sank into the afternoon and hisses filled the air.

And then she started to dream.

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As she slept, she dreamt of what had transpired, she dreamt of what had happened and she dreamt of what she had done.

Over and over again, she dreamt of being trapped in the forest, of the searing sunlight that shone through the forest and burning her eyes as she crashed through branch and bush to escape the beasts.

She dreamt of the large beast cornering her.

She dreamt of feeling helpless as she covered in front of its serpentine gaze.

She dreamt of pain.

And she dreamt of seeing her brother die right in front of her.

Over and over, she dreamt of this.

No matter what she did, she couldn't change it.

No matter what she dreamt, it all ended the same way.

And there was nothing she could to about it.

Filled with nothing but anguish and despair at her helplessness, she dreamt on.

On and on for an eternity,

Until finally,

She opened her new eyes.

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And with her new eyes, there was nothing she couldn't do.

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Ritsuka Fujimaru was ripped wide awake by the sound of his alarm ringing.

Reaching over to his phone, he turned off his alarm and noted the date and time.

August 15, 20XX
12:28 PM

As he stared down the date and time, one thought wormed it's way into his head.

'Wasn't it August 15 in my dream as well?'