Sgt. Stevens was tall, lean, and bald. He had perfect posture and the meanest gaze Unit 5 had ever seen. This man was their District Supervisor. At the moment he looked as stern as ever as he paced before the three officers and their two guests. Olivia, who hovered silently behind Genivieve, wrinkled her nose at the sight of him.

“Ugh. This is who you work under, Gen?” she whispered. “Tch. No wonder you were so miserable the last time I saw you. Reporting to a face like that must be —”

“Quiet!” Gen hissed.

Rex, who stood to the redhead’s left, snickered. Gen was about to yell when Stevens cleared his throat. The officers snapped to attention.

“Senior Officer Sfen Niel, Tactical Officer Genivieve Waters, Junior Officer Timothy Rex.” The sergeant eyed them gravely. All but Sfen and Margie held their breaths. Stevens took a deep breath. “Nice job.”

Olivia, Rex, and Gen sighed, relieved.

“But that was only phase one of a long-term assignment.”

Reactions varied: Sfen and Margie remained unfazed (the younger was playing with her lion and didn’t seem to even have taken notice of the conversation); Gen and Rex frowned, perplexed and worried; and Olivia looked confused as well, but not concerned.

“You see,” Stevens continued, resuming his pacing, “this is more serious than you think it is. Hell, it’s probably more serious than I think.”

“How so, sir?” Gen ventured.

“First of all, why do you think this child here?”

Rex didn’t hesitate to answer:

“She’s dreaming.”

“Wrong.”

The reactions were the same as they’d been when the sergeant announced their objective had not been reached.

“We have no records of the girl ever even having been in the Terrascape or Dreamscape. It’s as if she came into existence tonight. She just… appeared.”

Sfen glanced at Margie, who was sitting on the floor just in front of the three officers. There was what appeared to be distrust in his gaze. The child went on with her playing as if nothing were happening.

“So… that’s what we have to do? Find out where she came from?” Genivieve pursued.

“That and find out what Banderfield wants with her. And how she got here.”

“That’s it?” Gen shrugged, smiling smugly. “Couldn’t be simpler.”

“One more thing.” Stevens paused and stared directly at Gen. “I’m leaving you in charge of her, T.O. Waters.”

The redhead’s jaw dropped; her eyes opened to their widest.

“What!? Why me?!”

“She’s the responsibility of all three —” he spotted Olivia “— all four of you.” (Rex exclaimed, “What!?” and became the object of Gen’s smirk; Sfen didn’t react.) “That is, if you plan to stick around.” He continued at the ghost’s nod. “However, Waters, I hold you especially responsible for her.”

A resigned Gen nodded in acceptance. Olivia giggled, her hands together and at her mouth. The redhead fought the urge to glare at her.

“That’ll be all. If there are no questions,” Stevens said as he walked to the door, “I’ll be leaving.”

“Just one question, Sgt. Stevens.”

His brown gaze met Gen’s green one. He nodded, eyebrow raised, for her to continue.

“Why was the alert sent only to me?”

“The source who informed us of the child and the Nightmare requested it happen that way.”

At Genivieve’s frown he simply nodded, then left.

After the door closed behind him, silence reigned in the room. Rex scratched his head, Sfen said and did nothing, Margie continued to play, Gen was in thought, and Olivia drummed her fingers together.

Some time passed before the ghost cleared her throat.

“Gen, I was the one who sent them the alert,” she said as she glided so she was in front of the redhead.

Genivieve didn’t look up as she replied, “Olivia, I don’t have time to deal with you now.”

“I’m not kidding. Why would I joke about something like that?”

“Hmm, well, I don’t know.” The redhead glared at the specter, her words fully sarcastic. “Maybe because you’ve always joked about everything.”

“Oh, get over it already.”

“You brought this on yourself.”

“Grow up!”

“You first!”

“I’m dead!”

“Then just leave!”

“Why you —”

“HEY!”

The bickering women’s glares focused on the blonde, who, frightened though he was by the looks’ ferocity, remained firm in his own (though rather feeble) glare.

“What is it!?” the women asked in unison, glancing at each other at the realization of that but quickly returning the stares to the violet-eyed man.

“How do you two know each other?” Receiving only blank stares, he put a hand through his hair and went on. “I mean, Gen’s been saying things that could only mean you were friends, if not good friends. And you sort of look a like.”

Margie looked up then, though if she was interested or simply taking a break from her game was hard to tell.

What Rex said was true, of course. The women had very similar features and wore their hair the same way: in a messy bun, with bangs and two longer locks that framed the face. Apart from the fact that one was dead and the other was alive, the only evident difference was that Olivia looked more delicate.

The ghost and the officer eyed each other, anger forgotten for the moment.

Gen sighed.

“Olivia and I are — or were, or whatever — twins.”

Rex stifled a laugh as he eyed the two, who were once more glaring at each other.

“Yeah, I see the resemblance…”

A few feet away, Margie stood up and walked to Sfen. The little girl with brown hair and hazel eyes tugged on the tall man’s pants. He looked down at her. He seemed to understand what she wanted. Looking to the other three, he whistled to get their attention.

Three heads simultaneously turned to him.

“I think we should introduce ourselves to our charge.” The others looked at each other, then at Margie, then at him. He raised an eyebrow for a second, then let out a short, sudden sigh. “My name is Sfen Niel,” he said to the child beside him. She nodded at him, and he nodded at the three who stared. “Proceed.”

“I’m Timothy Rex, but just use Rex if you want.”

“Genivieve Waters. Or just Gen.”

“Olivia Waters.”

The brunette girl nodded at them from her place slightly behind Sfen.

“I’m Margie,” she said. She offered a small smile and lifted up her plush lion. “And this is Kato.”

Gen, Olivia, and Rex were instantly won over by the girl. Sfen appeared to be the only one who was unaffected.

“Well,” Genivieve began, unable to keep back a smile, “our shift is over, so I guess we should go home.”

Margie smiled back at the redhead.

Some Dream Police officers were from districts or cities far from where they were transferred to. Others didn’t have a good enough income to keep their houses or apartments. For these reasons, the Administration Board had apartment buildings constructed. There was one mini-complex for every three or four districts. The higher the rank, the better the accomodations.

Gen and Rex, being from out of the city, lived in their district’s building, the former living a few floors above the latter. Sfen had his own place in town.

Margie stepped into Gen’s appartment when the redhead opened the door. Behind her, Gen shut it before Olivia came in. The ghost entered by passing through the barrier.

“Make yourself at home,” the redhead told the girl.

Phantasm and child eyed the living room in which they were standing. It was clean but not neat. Here and there lay a book, a magazine, an empty plate and glass, a jacket — no more than the listed. The room had a fireplace across from the door; there were no out-of-the-ordinary furnishings.

“Hmm…” Olivia tapped her cheek. “This room… How would I describe it to someone? It’s not a sty, but it’s not… Oh, I don’t know.” She shrugged and placed her feet on the ground. “It’s like your side of the room at home, I guess.”

“Hmph.” Gen whirled to face the now standing ghost. “Don’t you have some place to go?”

“Not really, no.”

“Whatever. Now, would you be kind enough to tell me what you were doing at Banderfield’s little rendezvous point?”

“Ahh. So that’s what this is about.” Never dropping her smile, Olivia walked to the couch, picked up the jacket strewn on the armrest, and held it up in front of herself to examine it. “Nice colors. Dark tones work well for you.”

Genivieve went to her and ripped the item out of her hands, glaring at her. The ghost crossed her arms and raised an eyebrow, smiling proudly.

“Fine, then. I’ll have you know that I’m going to be sticking around for a while. See, Margie asked me to stay with her, so until she gives the word, I’m not leaving.”

The sisters glared at each other; their similarities could only be more evident if Olivia were alive.

“Fine,” Gen muttered, walking away. She entered the hall and went into a room. “Don’t cause any trouble or do anything stupid, got it?”

“Yes, sister dear.”

“Don’t call me that!”

The redhead returned to the living room after a few seconds and motioned for the brunette child to follow her. Gen led her to a spare room with the basic furnishings of a bed, a dresser, and a nightstand with drawers. She scratched the side of her head and sighed as she sat on the bed.

“Come here and sit.” She patted a spot next to herself. Margie obeyed. “I work a night shift, so I sleep during most of the day. It would be great if you could adjust to that, okay?” She continued with a small smile after the girl nodded. “If you need anything at all and I’m sleeping, wake me up. No, wait. Go back on that — if you need anything and I’m sleeping, try to get Olivia to help you. Let her make herself useful while she’s here. Then, if she can’t help, get me.”

Margie giggled.

“Yes, Miss Gen.”

The redhead smiled fully.

“Don’t worry about anything, all right?” She put a hand on the girl’s shoulder. “We’ll watch out for you. Keep you safe.”

The child nodded twice.

“Well, it’s time you slept.” The woman helped the girl into bed and, after bidding her good-night, left the room, leaving the door open a bit.

She crossed the living room to get a drink in the kitchen. Olivia was at the mantelpiece, eyeing the pictures set on it. When the living walked by again she said nothing, but upon entering the hall she paused. She lingered, thinking that maybe she should say something. She was tired, though. ‘If anything needs to be said, it can wait till tomorrow,’ she thought as she walked into her room and shut the door.

The sun was still out when Rex woke up. A look at the digital clock informed him it was half past five in the afternoon. He sighed.

He stood and stretched. Scratching his head, he took a step forward. Unfortunately, one of his feet was still caught in the sheets, so he fell.

He sighed again.

“I have this nagging feeling that today will be fabulous.”

And there was a chance that it would be, since the evening would be coming. He could, he thought as he got up, watch the Galvan City sunset and then head to a club. Or two. The Unit 5 shift began at ten pm, after all.

A while later he was coming out of the bathroom, fully dressed. Now more awake, he could stare at himself in the mirror and consider his outfit: basic black slacks, a dark blue tee shirt, black shoes, and a black jacket. He finished combing his hair and then sighed once more as he put the brush down.

“I’m acting like my sister.”

Head hanging, he walked out into his living room and picked up the wristwatch he’d left on the table there when he’d arrived last night. The table had a few pictures from his time at Dream Police Academy and one of him with Gen and Sfen. There were none of his family.

A door slammed shut the minute he opened his. He ignored it, locked up his apartment, and left.

Inside, Olivia’s ghostly head and shoulders popped in from the roof. After a few seconds of looking around, she dropped into the neat room and flipped in the air so she was upright.

“Hm…”

She floated down so she was lying on her stomach and at eye level with the pictures on the table. Upon examining them, she grinned.

“Oh, Timmy~~!”

Gen slept deeply, Margie concluded after letting the woman’s alarm clock, which now read 7pm, beep for several minutes. The redhead hadn’t even acknowledged the sound during the time it was beckoning for her to rise. The noise was annoying the girl, so she shut it off.

Now she waited, lion in arm, for the woman to wake up.

“Miss Gen.”

Nothing.

“Miss Gen.”

Still the redhead slept.

The girl took in a deep breath.

“Miss Gen!”

Genivieve mumbled something incoherent and turned around.

Margie sighed. She climbed on the bed and tried poking and shaking the woman, but all attempts resulted in nothing more than a few murmurs. Out of ideas, she looked down at Kato. Then she nodded and placed the plushie so that when Gen woke up she’d come face to face with it. Margie stood, crouched, sprang up into the air, and landed heavily on the bed.

The sudden jolt woke the officer. When she opened her eyes and found herself staring into a toy lion’s eyes, she gasped and sat up and threw a hand behind herself so she wouldn’t fall back.

“What’s Kato doing here?” Gen mumbled. She blinked, then furrowed her brow and turned around. Just as she’d expected, there was Margie, sitting Indian style on the dark sheets.

“Margie? What are you doing up?” She rubbed her eyes. “What’s wrong?”

“Your alarm clock went off,” the girl stated calmly, taking her lion back. “You didn’t move, so I woke you up.”

“Aw, that’s so sweet of you. Thank you.” The redhead was smiling as she put on her fuzzy slippers and stood. However, when she turned to the door, she did a double take. “I never set that clock to — Olivia.”

She took furious steps forward, flung the door to her room wide open when she got to it, and marched down the hall.

Margie observed in curious silence.

“Olivia, you’d better be glad you’re dead because if you weren’t I’d be sure to MAKE you dead!”

At nine o’clock, all seemed normal in the city streets. Some thought they looked best at night. The white lights would make the glossy green leaves of the plants in the more decorated streets glow with a silvery shine. One such street was Oak Street.

There was much green in the places in the sidewalk that were set aside for this particular purpose. This was a big street with large houses to the left and right. Most lights were off and all was silent. A light, cool breeze blew by, caressing the taller plants. It was a quiet night.

Even the Nightmare walking down the street was as silent as it could be (which was, surprisingly, very quiet).

Nightmares were usually black with shades of gray and some white. They could be humanoid or like animals — all depended on the dream from which they emerged and the Dreamer who dreamed it.

This Nightmare was like a large, hairy wolf. Everything about it was black, save for its silver eyes and claws and sparkling white teeth. So large was it that it could easily take out the Nightmare Sfen had faced the previous night, which had looked rather like a goblin.

The wolf’s breath hung in the air several seconds after it exhaled, giving the Nightmare the appearance of being surrounded by a mist. Its padded feet gave off no sound; the clicking of its claws on the ground was minimal.

Looked at from a distance, it appeared as a pair of eyes floating above a jaw.

“Rex!!”

It was 9:45. Gen, Olivia, and Margie stood in front of the door to the Junior Officer’s apartment. The redhead banged on the wooden barrier every few seconds.

“Rex, I refuse to be late! Get out here!”

“He must still be out,” Olivia mused aloud.

“Yeah, and right behind you.”

The three about faced quite suddenly, and Genivieve found herself face to face with the younger — yet not shorter — man, who was in his uniform and ready to go.

“Do you have to make such a racket?” He was smirking. “People are trying to sleep.”

Almost pink with anger, Gen walked past him and smacked him upside the head.

“You idiot. Let’s go already!”

The only reason Gen waited for him was because he was her means of transportation. Rex owned a motorcycle that seated two. They’d been riding to the station together for almost a year now. Bringing Olivia along would be no problem, since she didn’t need to walk anywhere. Margie’s situation was a bit more complicated, but was solved with a newly purchased small helmet and the suggestion of facing and clinging to Gen while sitting between the officers.

Sfen was already at the station when they arrived. He was at his desk, leaning back in his chair, eyes shut.

“You’d think he doesn’t sleep at all,” the ghost commented.

As the standing four went about, the Senior Officer said, “I heard that,” without moving.

“Oh, this is so exciting!” A gleeful Olivia clasped her hands together in front of herself. “I finally get to see how you spend your workdays. Or nights, I guess.”

“Don’t get too happy about it,” Gen said dejectedly.

“But why shouldn’t I?” The ghost went on without waiting for an answer. “I’m sure you’ll get a lot of work and action, what with Banderfield having been spotted and Margie’s sudden appearance. I wonder what that guy is up to now. When I was in Purgatory, I heard these guys say he wanted to rule the world.” She shrugged. “Go figure. Point is, you’ll be very busy, I think.”

Gen stared blankly at the dead woman.

“Most of that is paperwork.” And then, remembering the next part of that statement, the redhead grinned. “That’s T-Bone’s department.”

Olivia frowned and spun to face the direction of Rex’s desk. Sure enough, a stack of papers and folders was to his left. He sighed, pulled off the top one, and began his work. The ghost shook her head at the other woman.

Gen just chuckled and logged on.

Only to once again be greeted by an alert. This time it was sent to the other officers.

“Oo, a Nightmare!” Olivia gushed. “How thrilling!”

Ignoring her dead sister’s remark, Genivieve stood and checked her FR-1, the standard weapon issued to all graduated officers. It was the size of a common revolver, designed to be compact, and of a dull silver coloring.

Sfen was already prepared and waiting while Rex brought out the weapons from the night before. Gen, who was giving everything the final check, began walking to the door when a thought hit her.

She stopped. “We can’t take Margie with us.”

“We’ll leave Olivia with her,” Rex suggested.

“Yeah, that’d be great if she were an officer. Not to mention alive.”

The blonde glared. The redhead glared back.

“T-Bone, stay behind.”

Rex blinked and turned his head to stare at Sfen, his brow furrowed.

Gen folded her arms across her chest and smirked.

“You heard him, Filet Mignon,” she said. “You stay behind. With Margie and Olivia.”

“Wait — no! Why me?”

Olivia giggled and roughly patted his shoulder.

“Oh, cheer up, Rex. It’ll be fun!”

He raised an eyebrow and took a step back.

“How can you touch me?”

She poked his arm. “I will it.” She poked him again.

“Stop that!”

What was meant to be a hit to her hand became a sweep through the air as his hand went through hers. She grinned.

Sfen was already outside. Gen, who was on her way out, hung back and smirked at the younger officer.

“Have fun, you three. And don’t forget your paperwork, okay, Steakboy?” She waved and left, cackling when out of sight.

Rex sighed heavily.

“Don’t worry, Mr. Dinosaur.” Margie smiled up at him. She went on when he had looked at her. “We’ll be good.”

“That’s right,” Olivia chimed.

The blonde ran a hand through his wispy hair and walked to his desk. He plopped into his chair and grabbed another folder. He picked up a pen, then stopped.

“ ‘Mr. Dinosaur’ ?” He rolled his eyes and lifted his hands to the ceiling. “Even the kid’s got it in for me!”

“I want a house on Oak Street.”

Sfen hummed his acknowledgement of his partner’s statement.

She glanced at him, eyebrow raised, and continued, “They’re so big and spacious. I had an aunt who lived in one of these.” She sighed, staring forward without an expression on her face. “She went and sold it right before she died, of course.” She shook her head. “Fortune tellers. Always ten steps ahead of you.”

She faced the silent officer.

“And I know you used to live here.”

Sfen pulled over and got out of the car. Gen followed suit, shaking her head at him, knowing he wouldn’t see her.

“Rude,” she muttered as she slammed the door shut.

Sfen wasn’t one to state the obvious, so he made no comment on the Nightmare’s appearance. He’d left the car’s headlights on. The dream-wolf was visible in the distance. It advanced at a calm pace, as if not caring about the presence of beings other than itself.

The black-haired officer pulled a gun from one of his jacket pockets and waved it in the air before tossing it to the redhead. It was the NX-Blue, a slightly larger version of the FR-1 with a blue button where the trigger would be. He held the Green-RD, a bigger gun made of greenish metal. This model had a black hammer and no trigger.

Gen walked until she was next to the taller man, cocked the weapon in her hands, and aimed.

“They should make this job more fun,” she remarked.

“You mean shooting at things isn’t fun?” Sfen tsked. “Shame on you, Geni. I thought you knew better.”

She rolled her eyes.

“I am not Beefboy.”

She pressed the blue button. A blue, dart-like bullet zipped out of the weapon with hardly a sound, heading for the spot between the Nightmare’s eyes.

The wolf raised its head a little and blew out misty air. The bullet collided with the silver fog and dropped to the ground.

Gen, who hadn’t put down her gun, blinked.

“Well. Isn’t that interesting.”

“Don’t. Move,” the Unit Leader commanded.

The two officers remained still as the dream-wolf made its way to them at a higher speed than before.

“Damn the thing’s Dreamer,” Gen whispered.

“Don’t get so excited over it. Just stay completely still when it gets to you.”

The Nightmare stopped before Genivieve. It was about two feet taller than her. The wolf sniffed her, making a guttural growling sound as it stepped around her.

When it was walking to its starting point in front of her, Sfen pulled back the only black part of his weapon. The wolf stood still. It took a few steps back and just as it jumped, the Senior Officer shot its side.

Gen darted out of the Nightmare’s way. It fell on its side right where she had stood. It got on its feet with some trouble. Its gaze was set on Sfen.

The redhead didn’t really care whether or not she was stating the obvious.

“You’re the target now!”

“The mist around it is its shield.” The man backed away at the same pace the wolf advanced. “Shoot the second you see an opening.”

She nodded.

And he ran.

The dream-wolf chased after him and the woman chased after the wolf. Sfen was running slow on purpose. Besides that, he was facing the Nightmare every step of the way. He stopped and made an abrupt turn. The wolf jumped. That was when Gen saw the whole idea of the plan clearly displayed before her. When the dream-wolf jumped there was a moment when it didn’t exhale. There was no mist then. She smirked and fired a shot at one of its thighs.

The creature howled in pain and turned to the woman. She turned and ran.

However, by giving the wolf her back she had unknowingly given it one advantage — it could read her movements better.

Nightmares were not stupid, though some were less smart than others.

Gen dashed to her left. The Nightmare lept and blocked her path.

A thick, silvery fog hung between the dream-wolf and the officer. It lowered itself to the ground, ready to pounce, as she backed away slowly.

Then, as it was about to jump, it yelped.

Gen looked down the street and saw the ever-serious Sfen. He’d shot the wolf’s tail.

As the Nightmare sped toward him, the officer didn’t move. His partner yelled, called him many things, and still he did not move. The dream-wolf drew nearer.

“You make me angry, wolf pup,” he muttered. Then he did what Genivieve thought was the stupidest thing ever.

He ran toward the Nightmare, dropped to the ground rolling, and tripped it. Literally.

“You — You IDIOT!”

He got up, and dusted himself off a bit as he waited for Gen to reach him. He wasn’t worried about the Nightmare — its hurt leg would keep it from standing so quickly. It gave Gen enough time to smack him in the arm and for both of them to aim. Then, in unison, they shot.

The dream-wolf gave one final growl before turning into mist and sparkles and disappearing. Waterstains on the asphalt were the only evidence of its ever having been.

Gen looked at her partner.

“You’re right.” She shrugged. “That was fun.”

To be continued…

AN:  Angel took down her stuff! *pout* Anyway, again, next chapter will most probably take a while to put up. We’re going a little bit more into the crime thing in Case 3. ^_~ As far as characters go, I know for a fact that you’ll learn some more about Olivia.