I was running, and something was chasing me. I didn't know what, exactly, but I knew it wasn't good.

I tripped over something.

I fell.

I turned to look at my attacker and saw....

Me, but I was different.

My hair was black instead of silver, my eyes looked like a ghouls, my skin was bright white. My hands were morphed into claws, with nails as long as the blades of Kuroma.

"You~'re a monst~er~!" She sang. "You~'re a monst~er~! Just~ like~ me~!"

And she plunged her long nails through my chest.

"-mily! Wake up! Wake up Emily!"

I gasped and my eyes snapped open. I saw Ichigo, frowning over me.

"I-Ichigo...." I mumbled, squinting at him. "What happened?"

"You were screaming," a deeper voice said. I looked over at Chad, who was bandaged up. "Did you have a nightmare?"

"Screaming?" I repeated, trying to remember why I was scared, but I couldn't. The dream was gone. The only thing I could think of was me.... Being a shinigami..... Surely that was a dream. "I... Don't know.... Why are you hurt?" I asked Chad.

"You don't remember the hollow attacking that the carnival?" Ichigo asked.

"Oh..." I mumbled.

"I'm going to tell Urahara you're up," Ichigo said, standing and leaving the room. I looked over at Chad, who was looking at me, and gave him a small smile.

"I'm glad you're alright, Chad," I said. "You had me really worried."

"I could say the same to you," he replied.

Things were silent as we looked at each other until a thought struck me.

"Chad?"

"Hm?"

"You were about to say something to me before the hollow appeared," I recalled. "What was it?"

He looked at me in silence, but eventually opened his mouth to speak.

"Ah! Emily-chan!" The door slid open and Chad shut his mouth quickly as Urahara strode into the room, Ichigo at his heels. "Good to see you awake again! How do you feel?"

"Alright," I shrugged. "I had the strangest dream though. I was taken to the Soul Society...... I found my uncle..... I killed my mom...... It was weird."

"Oh, that wasn't a dream," came a new voice, chuckling. Shunsui appeared in the doorway, grinning lazily with Nanoa at his side. I tried sitting up, but Chad pushed me back.

"Stay down," he said softly. I shook my head and went to sit up again. He sighed, but didn't stop me.

"What do you mean?" Ichigo demanded. "Emily doesn't have a mom or an uncle. She was kidnapped and brought to Japan from America! And she's an orphan!"

"Wrong!" Urahara smirked, flicking out his fan.

"Why you-"

"He's right," I mumbled, making Ichigo freeze.

"What?"

"I-I am- was- an orphan, and I belong to this world, but..... Ever since I was a baby Ive lived in a different world. One where shinigami and all of you were simply a tv show. I.... I didn't want to lie to you.... But I didn't think you'd believe me..." I explained, staring at my lap. "I'm only here because Kisuke-chan sent me a cloak, which teleported me to this world, where I have- had- a mom and dad, but they're both dead now.... I only have on blood relative left, and that's Jushiro Ukitake."

"Exactly!" Urahara grinned.

"I'm really, really sorry Ichigo..." I mumbled.

I heard his sigh before a hand sat on my head and pushed it down into the blankets, causing me to freak out and go 'Gah!!!'

"It's fine, stop apologizing," he mumbled, letting go of my head.

"Hey! Be nice to the cripple," I said, trying hard to fight off a smile. "Hey wait, Shunsui, why are you here?"

The tall man chuckled again and adjusted the hat on his head.

"Your uncle wanted to come make sure you were okay, but couldn't because he had work to do, so I offered to check up on you," he explained. I blanched.

"You? Offered instead of taking a nap? The ultimate lazy captain?"

"I was surprised as well," Nanoa chimed in, looked at Shunsui suspiciously. "At first I thought he was an imposter. And I stand by the thought still."

Shunsui pouted childishly. "Oh come now, that's just rude! I do nice things for my best friend all the time!"

"We never said you weren't nice, Shunsui," I said, pointing upwards. "Just lazy."

He tried to keep pouting, but ended up chuckling again.

"Fair enough. So I'll just tell your uncle you're alright," he said, turning around and waving over his shoulder. "See ya 'round, kid. Can't wait to see which squad you make."