He felt like he was... home.... The breeze shifted softly, bringing with it an achingly familiar tune that brushed against his ears and danced shivers down his spine. He closed his eyes, tilting his head toward that familiar pressure of the wind, willing himself to fall into the security that the haunting melody offered, even insisted.

�/Did it darken?/�

The voice seemed to well from within him almost as much as without. Feminine. Comforting. Duo felt his hand shift to brush at his eyes as he turned. The tune suddenly became a song, flowing around him like silk under the moon. Instruments he hadn�t heard for what seemed a thousand eternities flushed from within his very soul, erupting around him almost as if through his skin. He turned lazily, barely registering the steady instrumental additions, wondering what he was looking for in the world of comfortable dark fields that he stood in.

�/Did it darken?/�

The voice repeated, the same woman, the same near-echo. A smile found its way to his lips unbidden. He turned even slower now, letting the wind push his long, unbound chestnut hair around him in a lazy twirl.

He felt light. Unrestricted. Free.

For a few glorious moments, he simply stood still, staring up at the racing sky as he watched the clouds form and part, all tinted an odd shade of blue that was vaguely familiar. But before he could think more, voices lifted in a soft lilt, surrounding him.

He could ALMOST understand what they were telling him, but it was currently as impossible as understanding what he was searching for. Instead, he tilted his head back, eyes closing as a content smile softened his features. He held his arms out to either side, letting the wind gently nudge him from all sides.

The song lifted him, surrounded him, BECAME him. He listened to the cadence of the women�s beautiful voices supported by the instruments filling the tune out. He knew this song was as familiar to him as his own breath, his own thoughts, and his blood beating in his veins.

He knew he could name it. If only... ...If only..... But the answer was just beyond his reach. With a soft sigh, Duo turned, opening his eyes. Suddenly the world shifted, the light becoming slightly darker. The song continued unaffected, as if the singers didn�t realize that anything had changed. But Duo had.

Silent lightning struck across the sky, bringing with it a sudden brilliance of light that blinded Duo from the Dream Field he�d been watching and turned his sight inward. The wind surged around him protectively, yet also somehow angrily. He felt like he was being pushed toward some ultimate goal that no one, least of all HIM, wanted him to reach.

Stumbling, Duo pushed against the wind with his arms, as if his limbs could cut through the air and force an early stillness. But instead of slowing down, the wind only twirled harder, faster, chaotic and primal and full of an uninhibited fury born of pure passion. His breath was coming in soft pants in the otherwise silent world he resided in, the only other sound the song that continued, if only a bit quieter. The singers raised their voices to the sky, and Duo could ALMOST see the dance that would accompany it, long flowing robes brushing the waiting dirt, pales hands raised to a weeping sky.

Lightning flashed again, throwing his world into neon planes of blue light that slashed through the fields mercilessly, throwing harsh shadows across his vision. The sky raced on, the clouds parting only long enough to let the silent lightning crackle across.

No, not parting. Recoiling. As if the lightning was fire; living, breathing, all-consuming and all-destroying fire from the very Gods themselves.

The wind tilted suddenly, the desperate whirling at an odd angle that began to lift Duo�s lithe body from the sheltering earth, pulling him toward the sky in short jerks and stops. He was completely still for a moment, afraid at this turn, unsure of how to continue. But when the wind pressed harder and his toes almost completely lost the comforting grip of the dirt, he shook his head and threw his arms to either side with a guttural and incoherent cry.

Immediately the wind stopped, as sudden as flipping a switch. It left nothing in its wake, almost as if it had never existed. In the stillness that was so thick, so heavy and expectant it almost had a heart beat, Duo heard the song.

The all-encompassing, beautifully comforting song. With a smile that came from deeper within than even he could trace, Duo kept his eyes closed for a few precious, perfect moments while he watched the lightning glance through his eyelids, turning his vision momentarily red.

As he stood calmly, he wondered why he was here again. The same dream occurred over and over, completely identical but with something new each time. Like it was trying to tell him something....

The lightning flashed sporadically for a moment then seemed to die down. With a sigh, Duo realized he wasn�t going to get anything from this but a respite from the mundane reality he had fled to the Dreamland from. He listened to the song for one more moment then opened his eyes.... And froze as lightning flashed once more.

Just seconds ago he had been alone in the field, surrendered to serenity. But when he opened his eyes and glanced around, lightning had suddenly flashed. And with the neon blue, surreal light came a completely unexpected surprise.

A figure stood in front of him, probably 15 feet away. Its form was entirely concealed by a long, thick black cloak. The hood rested low over the face, shading the eyes and nose from view completely. In fact, the only thing that could be made out was the mouth. Smiling. Patiently but... but almost... Malicious. The lightning flashed again, and with a jolt like someone accidentally hitting the volume control, the song was suddenly unbearably loud. It shook through his bones and settled over his weary heart with a pleading, desperate pulse that was so strong the long-haired Nightwalker stumbled back a step. Duo searched the face of the figure, who only smiled more and lifted one slow hand that pointed past Duo�s right shoulder.

For one moment, neither moved. But slowly, gently, quietly, the urge to see took over Duo�s mind. As the lightning flashed again, Duo slowly turned until his back was facing the figure. And his heart nearly stopped. A village lay before him, so quaint and normal that under other circumstances he would have been wondering why he was watching it. But the telltale blooming of black smoke that tainted the very air around it quickly erased that thought from his mind.

In shock, Duo watched as the village burned and crackled and popped under deep crimson flames. The fire itself burned lazily, almost tauntingly, with playful twirls of sparking embers that beckoned any observers to come and join.

Duo shuddered as the song began to falter, fading in and out as if it was dying with the village. He knew there should be voices. Dozens of voices, raised to the sky in a desperate pleading for deliverance from this evil.

But all he heard was silence, the song that now including a low hum from men, and now the crackling of the fire. And now, where the comforting melody was faltering, he heard another song, completely different, and considerably darker. Despite the clashing of the melodies, it wound around his sacred tune intimately, smoothly, until he couldn�t tell where one started the other died. All he knew was both were familiar. And that, perhaps, was more disturbing than anything else so far.

Suddenly Duo was aware of a presence behind him. His eyes widening, Duo tensed, feeling a power from within form, ready to lash out in full force. But before he could do anything, the figure spoke in a voice that was undistinguishable between male and female, in words that he knew weren�t any language from Earth that he was used to, with a tone that couldn�t be placed.

�Your denial, my demand,� whispered the voice directly into his ear, almost musical as the figure seemed to indicate the village, �I was already there...� Duo tensed, feeling the unknown power spread through his veins thickly, like cold honey shoved into tea. Unfortunately, he suddenly found he couldn�t move. All he could see was the burning village, and all he could hear was a very distant song that never quite reached close enough for him to recognize it. The figure seemed to smile indulgently at him as it rapidly retreated. Tauntingly, it lilted, �Ahhh... Almost there....�

The village suddenly burst completely into flame as the distant song intensified.