Sleep was a luxury. It allowed her to escape reality itself, the dream world being far more peaceful than the waking world.

Kanari had found herself in the familiar entrance of the subway. She looked at her surroundings, and sure enough, it was the same odd dream the last time she had a dream.

The subway was dark, and it gave off an ominous feel to it. Kanari's gaze shifted towards its entrance. Surely enough, there was the odd creature, fumbling as its mass couldn't stay over its center of gravity. 

It steadily made its way towards Kanari, who only stared at it with curiosity. It didn't take too long before it was only a foot away from her, and the creature brought its face, or rather faces, to her eye level, appearing to examine her. 

Kanari felt her body become rigid, and she pressed her lips together in a firm line. "What are you?" she asked it, knowing that she most likely wasn't going to answer.

As she predicted, the creature offered nothing in response, and it straightened itself completely, and it walked towards the entrance of the subway. Kanari followed it willingly, fearful for what might happen if she continued down farther into the depths. Heading closer to the entrance. Kanari began to realize how precarious the subway seemed. 

As she peered into the entrance, all she could see was a large, gaping, black abyss that descended into the  depths of the Earth. The escalators weren't working, and vines grew all over them, and she couldn't decide if they were not moving to the lack of power, or the vine growth preventing it from moving, or if it was a twisted combination of both. 

The creature stopped in front of the entrance, and Kanari stopped by its side. "What is it?" she asked.

It said nothing again, and it began to walk down the escalator. Kanari watched it descend, a wave of hesitation and nervousness washing over her. Could she follow this creature into the depths? 

The better question that she felt she needed to ask, was would she? The creeature stopped, turning around to look at her with all of its eyes. Kanari nervously gulped, and she began to descend the escalator, following the creature.

It turned around, and continued down the unmoving stairs, Kanari close behind it as they walked in silence. 

She wondered what it was, or better yet, whether or not it could understand her words. As she thought about what potential things that this creature was, she became unaware of her surroundings, and eventually her sense of time.

So much that she almost walked right into the creature. 

Almost being the proper word. Because before Kanari could walk right into it, it stepped to the side, and Kanari managed to stop. She looked around, and she almost felt her jaw drop.

The subway was not itself. It was dark, so much that she couldn't see too much, and the only lighting given was either through the footsteps of her and the creature, or the dim reddish pink cracks that lined the walls and ground.

Another thing that Kanari noted was that the subway was like a labyrinth- a maze, a large one at that. It spanned a large area, and it had it's own twists, turns, and dead ends, almost as if it were made to be the end of the people foolish enough to enter it. The tracks were not centered, and they sometimes were lifted up into the air, heading off into what appeared to be nothing.

Kanari didn't like it, and it didn't help that it smelled of a rotting corpse left out in the sun for weeks before being dipped in raw, rotten eggs, and left out to bake in the hot sun again. Her nose scrunched up at the smell almost immediately.

And she didn't know that someone could feel the cold in dreams, and she brought her hands to rub against her shivering arms. It was so cold that she could see her very breath. She looked over to her travel companion, and noticed that there was no visible breathing clouds. 

She watched as the creature began to walk down the subway, and she followed it closely, afraid of what would happen if it left her completely open to anything that could potentially be crawling in the subway, occasionally descending down another set of stairs.

And every second that she spent in this subway, the more she became paranoid, and it became harder and harder to suppress the panic that began to build up inside her.

Her arms shook uncontrollably, her mouth quivered every second. The creature stopped, and Kanari stopped immediately. She was standing right behind it, so she leaned over to the side ever so slightly, just so she could see what was holding them back.

Her eyes widened, and the fear factor began. Her body started to pump adrenaline in her body, and Kanari knew that this dream was never really a dream. It was a straight up nightmare. 

In front of them, is what appeared to be more creatures that look just like her companion, and she looked up at it. "Are these your friends?" she asked with a slight stutter.

It looked down at her, and it shook its head slowly. Kanari felt her heart race more. It didn't know them, and that wasn't a good sign. Kanari began to back up a bit, "I'm going to die in this nightmare, aren't I?" she thought aloud, her hands reached up to the sides of her head, where they slid up through her hair as she began to panic. "Why aren't I waking up?" she frantically asked, and the creature offered nothing in response.

Suddenly, there was a groaning noise, and the creature turned around towards the origin of the sound, but it was too late. 

The other creatures began to run towards her, but the creature was in the way. So, as a result her companion was tackled to the ground by several of them, where they began to beat down on it, their hands in fists as they rained their fury in it. Her companion's limbs flailed about as it tried to defend itself against the strikes of its own kind.

Kanari mentally struggled against herself, how could she save her companion from its own kind? Could she even do anything?

She stole a glance in the direction of her companion. It was wailing, and it was trying its best to escape, but the others were crowding it so much that it could barely move. It tilted its head up towards her general direction, its many eyes staring into hers, and she snapped. Kanari panicked, and almost immediately she stepped forward shakily, closer to them, knowing all to well that they might be dangerous.

She didn't care. She took another step forward, this time, it wasn't as shaky. And then she took another, and another. With every step that Kanari Sutsunomi took, the more that her confidence grew.

As she steadily approached them, her mind was swimming with various thoughts and scenarios that could potentially happen in this situation alone. She could be chased, or worse, killed.

But she couldn't just let this creature get killed. She shut her eyes before yelling "Stop it!" really loudly, her voice being carried throughout the cave in an echo, "Stop it... Stop it... Stop it..." slowly fading until it was dead silent.

Almost as if they shared a hive mind, the others stopped their current actions, and they each looked over at her, their masses twisting ever so slowly as they looked at her, and Kanari bit her lip.

'Okay,' she thought, 'I got their attention... Now what?' Kanari watched them carefully as they began to approach her. She knew that this was the moment that she needed to run. 

Kanari turned around, and she began to run farther into the depths, not caring for the direction. She could hear them growl and groan behind her, and Kanari knew that they were still following her.

She turned right at the next intersection, and straight at the following one. 

Kanari made various turns and twists, the creatures not too far behind. In her ears, Kanari heard the sound of a set of chains clinking against each other. She made the mistake of looking behind her a few minutes later, and her eyes widened at the sight.

Instead of the creatures that she had been fleeing from minutes before, they were replaced by a large, hooded figure was following her. It's cloak was black with red highlights, and the hood seemed to wrap around their entire face. Chains encircled around the torso area loosely, and another set ran down the arms. And in each hand, was a simple revolver pistol whose barrels were at least three feet in length. 

It was very reminiscent of Death itself, and Kanari freaked out internally. "What kind of sick nightmare is this?!" she exclaimed generally.

She turned her head to face what was in front of her, and she was surprised to see that there was a dead end in front of her. As Kanari looked at it, the wall seemed more like a shut, sealed door. 

Kanari skidded to a halt, and she turned her back towards the wall. She quickly scanned her surroundings for anything that she could use to defend herself with. 

Oddly enough, there was a piece of metal lying on the ground right next to her. She leaned down quickly to pick it up in bothe hands. She held it up in front of her defensively. 

The hooded figure stopped in front of her, and Kanari held out the piece of metal in front of her, her eyes squeezed shut tightly, her head looking away as she expected her end to come.

Translation Notes: Deai means encounter, which I believe is 出会い