Sky groaned, slowly waking from her slumber. She couldn't remember what had happened, nor what her dreams contained if she had any, but she was awake.

Slowly opening her eyes, Sky looked at the familiar hospital room.

Hospital room?

Why was she in a hospital room?

The 17-year-old looked around disoriented, watching the colorful trees swaying outside the window, leaves dancing in the air as the winds clattered against the frames loudly, drowning any other noise out. Sky's gaze wandered around the white room, filled with one singular yellowish cabin for the patients and a single sink.

She couldn't remember how she got into the room. And why was she asleep?

Her head hurt.

The teen held her hand up to her forehead, squeezing her eyes shut, as she slowly lifted herself from her lying position. Something felt wrong. Very wrong.

And it was warm...

Was she perhaps sick? Did something happen during her classes, hence why she was in that room?

Sky didn't know.

But it didn't bother her. She could just call a nurse and ask what had happened. Why think now when the answers will come to one later?

The teen brought her hand down from her head, opening her eyes again to look for the devices that would call the nurses. But upon looking down at her lap, she found something else.

How funny that people sometimes find what they do not seek but cannot find the things they search for.

The teen looked down at two gloved hands in wonder, the light gray fabric nice but warm to the touch. And what was with those white sleeves? Looking towards her chest, she took in the white and brown sweater vest knit in a beautiful diamond pattern confused.

Those weren't her clothes after all. Why was she wearing such stuff in the first place?

Something was wrong.

And she didn't know what.

Well, perhaps it was all just a weird dream, even though she has just woken up. Perhaps she dreamt for once in her life and her mind made up that weird image of her being dressed differently in the hospital during school.

Deciding that that was probably it, Sky tried to laze around again and sleep some more. There was no point in going around exploring when all of her current reality was simply a dream. So she lay down again comfortably, about to close her eyes.

Though suddenly the door to her warm room shot open, and 3 people dressed like the US military came inside staring at the now startled and sitting teen. Sky didn't quite understand what was going on, but the loud noise and the military standing in front of her scared her deeply.

Before she could say anything, one of the three people grabbed her arm and pulled her--- quite literally --- out of the hospital bed. "H-Hey!", Sky struggled, pulling at her arm, but another of the three had already put a gun against her head, saying nothing but "Quiet.", in a deep, fierce, and commanding tone.

The 17-year-old teared up from the sudden stress she felt. Of course, she would. Some random people --- better known as the military--- suddenly grabbed her and threatened her life!

It felt so surreal.

"We've got it. Coming back now.", one of the three said into their walkie-talkie. Not that sky paid much attention to it, the noise not reaching her ears as she tried to make sense of the situation.

.

.

.

But of course! It was only a dream, so she was fine. It was all just her mind's weird imagination --- maybe some kind of fear she had deep within.

So Sky just teared up silently, not resisting her captors much. She didn't attack. She didn't feel the need to, after all.

"Sky Kid, you are under arrest for going against humanity.", one of the soldiers said suddenly, cuffing her hands to her back. It was kind of weird considering how they weren't the police, but Sky did not question her imagination.

The teen got dragged quite forcefully out of the room, her body hurting slightly but not bothering her. Who knew? Maybe her mind imagined her being hurt and it ever so slightly did feel real. Dreams were questionable phenomena after all.

Sky decided to try and calm herself.

Breathe in. 1 2 3 4 5

Breath out. 6 7 8 9 10

She was fine. Dreams were weird. She was fine. She was totally fine.

The three soldiers walked along the hospital halls, going towards the exit - Sky guessed. Some busy nurses, doctors and strolling patients or guests looked their way, the military quick to shut the prying eyes up.

The looks people gave her and the way she got treated like a criminal unsettled Sky a lot. In an effort to avoid the gazes, she instead stared out of the nearby windows, looking at the hospital entrance from the first floor they were on. Outside stood two black vans with military and what seemed like a few police officers, guarding the heavy machine.

The teen didn't know why there were vans outside, but she didn't want to think that those were there for her.

To bring her away from her home and friends.

Heh, but that couldn't be it, right? Or perhaps it was since everything was a dream.

A weirdly unreal but somehow realistic dream.

After all, the randomness of the situation was unreal.
Only her perceptions of her weirdly detailed vicinity made her mind's imagination so realistic.

The idea to just go along with her dream seemed like a bad one all of a sudden. She should get away from whatever was about to happen.

"Move. Don't slow down.", one of the soldiers demanded, mumbling incoherent words slightly after. Sky picked her pace up. She was so lost in thought that she forgot about her situation.

Though, despite her thoughts getting disrupted, she felt awake enough to get away from this possible nightmare. But how? She couldn't. There was no way that her nightmare would give her some random powers that would help her get away from whatever it was that was happening. Or about to happen.

The soldiers led their prisoner down the stairs, guarding Sky from everyone and anything around. Though, on a second glance, it was obvious they were guarding everyone from her as well. Was she a criminal in this weird dream?

What did the soldiers say again? They told her about getting apprehended for... for...
She forgot.

Before Sky even knew it, she was at the entrance area. It was rather crowded, actually. People took out their phones to take pictures and videos- Sky guessed- which made her more than just uncomfortable.

It felt like public humiliation.

The military was quick to get in the way of these people and block the cameras.

Despite that, Sky knew that her time was running out.
She had to do something to escape.

She could try and run. Get away from the soldiers by just booking it.
Though, it would most likely fail, seeing how well those three were built and all.
She could try attacking them. Take a sweep at them and she runs after.
Though, who is she trying to kid? It would also fail. Those were trained people. Trained to attack and defend against any kind of threat.

She could at least try and get answers, right? She had so many questions...

.
.
.

The thought of asking those rather rude and obviously dangerous soldiers anything tightened Sky's throat, her eyes narrowing ever so slightly while her fingers tapped away on the cuffs behind her back. She couldn't ask them. She couldn't.

And just like that, she exited the hospital with her captors, them still guarding Sky like their life depended on it. The teen looked up ahead seeing the two vans still standing there a few meters away from them.

It all felt so surreal. Everything.

This had to be a dream. As much as it seemed like reality, it just had to be!

And before she even knew it, she was shoved inside the one of the backs of the van, a soldier quick to chain her cuffs on a seat, making it unable for her to escape. Sky opened her eyes to look around at the interior of the van.

But what she saw shocked her in more than just one way.

There were monsters in the van- maybe 10 or so- and all of them looked like children or teens, tears pricking their eyes. All but one tall monster and a male soldier in the back looked like children!

Why were there monsters?
Was the dream so messed up?
What was happening?

Sky took a deep breath, looking around again.

"hey...", Sky looked to her left, seeing a young skeleton with purple pin pricks, wearing purple and black attire and a diadem with a moon in it. To say that seeing a living skeleton walk- or, more like move thanks to the restraints- and talk wasn't scary would've been a lie. Though, their somehow soothing voice helped calm her down. "Hey...", Sky answered, her eyes not able to keep eye contact for long.

The skeleton looked at Sky- who obviously felt the long stare- the pin prick in their eye sockets looking them up and down.

Suddenly, the vehicle started rumbling, indicating that the car was about to move, though the soldier didn't think so, "Agh, screw it!", he yelled, scaring many of the passengers- or prisoners- much like Sky. The soldier took his walkie-talkie yelling into it like there was no tomorrow, "I SAID THAT I DIDN'T WANT TO STAY HERE. SOMEONE TAKE OVER!"

"Deal with it, Markus!", someone else yelled through the small device. The skeleton- a teen Sky guessed- next to the very much confused 17-year old started shaking violently. Sky looked at them, taking notice of the wild smile on the skeletons face. It looked almost scary and comical in a way. "Deal with IT!?", Markus blared into the microphone, "I am here, in the back, watching fucking DEMONS AND MONSTERS!"

"As I said before, fucking deal with it, Markus. You're no kid, so don't act like one", the other line said the car starting, leaving the sharply inhaling Markus to halt his breath and try and steady himself. Though it was obvious that his inner volcano wouldn't restrain itself much longer.

Though Sky, while she would've liked to hold her ears to avoid any hearing damage- unable to do so because of those annoying cuffs- was very curious and confused by what the soldier said. 'Demons and Monsters'? What did he mean by that? Yes, while the inhabitants of the van all looked like monsters, some even more demonic than the other, didn't mean that she was one of them... right?

"You look confused.", the skeleton said, their voice quiet, but loud enough for Sky to hear. Said teen nodded slowly. "I'll tell ya what I know once we get rid of him.", they nudged their head towards the angrily yelling soldier. Sky looked at Markus, then at the Skeleton and nodded again in response.

The skeleton grinned, "I'm Joseph by the way", they said. Though, before Sky could answer Joseph, they turned towards Markus with a cocky grin plastered on their skull- which Sky didn't question- who was seething with anger and embarrassment, "Hey, Markus", Joseph said, quirking a brow- or bonebrow?- at the soldier. "YOU stay quiet, I have nothing to hear from you!", Markus seemingly cut Joseph off, which he didn't. Joseph looked fake hurt at this. "awe, come on. Don't you want to leave this van? Why don't you just jump out?", Joseph joked- a bit harshly even.

Sky looked at the other prisoners, now that she calmed down enough to pay attention to some detail, taking in their appearances. There were about 4 children who looked like skeletons, all of them having various simple designs and clothing. Despite all that, you could definitely mistake them all as quadruplets. Two of them had long, jelly looking hair, while the other two had a faint aura around them. Looking at the other 7 teens - Sky counted- 3 of them were also skeletons- for whatever reason- having a more complex design than the children. Golden attires, a good color palette, crowns and more. Two even had a very royal feeling to them. The remaining 4 looked more demonic and humanoid, in a way. One of them had large black wings, clipped to their body in an effort to restraint them even further, black eyes and small horn on their head, while another had large horns on their head- which had to be pretty heavy- and a dangerously looking tail with spades, also clipped on their body. The other two seemed like two rather closely related white beasts. Both wore the same color palette even, that being yellow, green and black. Though their faces read nothing but sadness, fear, and many other emotions Sky couldn't make out. Lastly, the adultlike monster was a kind of humanoid monster- Sky guessed- her not showing any physical monsterlike traits at all besides the weirdly hollow look in her eyes and the gross-

Sky looked away once she saw tentacles, or liquid, or something leaving her eyes.

She wanted to unsee and forget that image for the rest of her life.

Tuning back into the conversation Joseph and Markus had, Sky noticed how Markus seemed slightly different. He didn't yell as much anymore, it was more like he was trying to get away from Joseph, who had a maliciously wide smile plastered on their skull. It unsettled Sky.

"Stop and get me the fuck out of this- away from this maniac...", Markus said into his walkie talkie. The car shifted as the vehicle slowed down and finally stopped moving. Sky had no idea how Joseph did it, but he did. "Fine, just make sure all of them are properly cuffed and shit.", the other line said, Markus's face lighting up like he won the lottery.

Not long after, the soldier left the back. The monsters all let out a deep sigh, showing their obvious relief at the situation. "Finally..." "He's gone..."

Sky looked at Joseph, admiring their actions and the results. Joseph looked back at Sky, "So, do you know what's going on now?", they asked the 17-year-old. Sky slowly shook her head again. "Well, I only know some things, but let me tell you how everything started for me.", Joseph began, Sky nodding slightly, her attention focused on him as the vehicle started moving again.

"I woke up this morning, had my normal routine and all, and suddenly, I noticed that I look like this.", the skeleton started, confusing Sky slightly. After all, she thought all of these people were demons and monsters from birth and somehow ended up on earth, getting apprehended by the police and military and whatnot else her mind made up.

After all, it was just a weird and slightly crazy dream, right?

"You look like you don't believe me.", Joseph said calmly, a smile plastered on their face. It didn't look crazy like before, it looked kind and scary. A skeleton will stay scary. It will. "Let me ask you", they began, their eyelights suddenly disappearing, scaring the teen, "Do you truly believe that all of this is just a dream?" they continued, eyes not returning. Sky held her breath, not allowing herself to make any movement or noise.

As quickly as the moment was the dreaded atmosphere disappeared and Joseph looked at Sky with their eye lights illuminating his skull as slightly as it can. Joseph smiled kindly at her, "The faster you wake up from that illusion, the better."

Sky avoided eye contact at this. Joseph was weird, but very kind. Somehow. Perhaps...

She'll see how nice they actually were- "I'm Sky.", she introduced herself with a voice akin to a whisper- but for now she'll trust that this person wasn't bad. Joseph's face brightened up at this. "Nice to meet you Sky!", they beamed.

Sky smiled and nodded, "Nice to meet you too, Joseph."

—~—

A/N:

Guess who decided to update again??

Correct, it's me!
Since I am more comfortable with writing my chapters during school break (And since my next one is in 2 weeks) I decided to update another chapter.

Honestly, I am not sure if I'll have a schedule or not, since I have stuff to do. But for now I will give you this. :>

Thanks for reading my/our wacky story!

See ya soon and til next time!!