To most people their dreams offer a form of escape from the everyday turmoil of a world that slowly worms its way into their skin where it will one day drill a hole through their heart sending them on to whatever awaits mortal beings in the beyond. However, a nightmare is a much different story. These small aneurisms of the sleeping mind take a person’s hardships and amplify them. This leaves a vital question to be answered. When does the pain reach its limit and become unbearable to the dreamer? Is it possible to actually die in your dreams.....

* * *

It’s hot. No, that's not quite the word for it. One might say it’s blistering and yet...there is much more to it than that. There is something here that she FEELS the heat being generated from. And that something is alive. Once again her choice of words seems inadequate in their description for as the force does seem alive; it is also dormant as if waiting. This scares her most of all for what could it possibly be waiting for. Only now does she realize one more problem. She has apparently been restrained to some sort of craggy pillar of stone. As her eyes adjust to the dim light she can make out that the so-called room is in fact some sort of cave. And she is stuck inside.

Sounds begin to echo through the dark hallway in front of her, footsteps accompanied by a deep almost seething breathing pattern. As the figure finally emerges from the darkness and into the room and the slight light it seems to cast, which makes her wonder where the light is coming from in a cave, fear steals over her body as the pupils of her eyes begin to contract as far as they will go nearly shutting off her eyesight completely. She knows this man and he most certainly knows her. As he stares into her fearful eyes a small smile begins to stretch across his face, and it is not one of a lost friend but more of the kind that an age old enemy would give when an opportunity for revenge has arisen. And sadly for Lita this is the case.

“Heh, well...it seems a little lost schoolgirl found her way here all by her lonesome. Where’s my pesky brother to defend you now? What’s that? Speak up I can’t quite hear you...you pathetic little BITCH!” With that last comment Lita’s head is suddenly stricken backwards into the pillar she is tied to by a forceful blow from her persecutor's hand. And all the while the smile hovers on his lips like some malevolent specter from beyond the grave.

Spots begin to dance before her eyes and a momentary grayness steals over her as a realization comes to her. For the first time ever in this dream she knows who this is, and that frightens her more than anything as of yet has or ever will. As the feeling of warm blood begins to trickle down the back of her long hair she looks up at the face of a man she had assumed she would never see again in all eternity. Looking upon him she sees the smile of her captor for the first time disappear from his scarred face. The full effect of the contact between their eyes takes over and the man slowly raises his open palm to her face. The smile suddenly returns, “see ya later sweetheart.”

A yellowing green light begins to gather into his palm and as the light reaches what seems to be its maximum brightness Lita mouths one word.

Then all is white.

* * *

A young woman on a rooftop is lying silently sleeping when her eyes snap open and she screams out into the cold night air. The echo of her voice scares her just as much as the dream did as she rises and curses herself for not realizing it was just that nightmare again sooner. Once again she forces herself to try and remember what it could have been she was dreaming of exactly, but the results are blurry at best as always and she rises to begin yet another day.

Sighing Lita heads down the stairwell to what is her current home, a top floor apartment with all the furnishings. In reality ‘all the furnishings’ included a a broken down fridge, a rusted out kitchen sink, an easy chair home to a family of rats and a toilet. What more could she ask for.

“Maybe a life...” she muses to herself. She knows if anyone saw her talking to herself they would call her crazy, but it has always just been the easiest of dealing things out for her. Unfortunately she notices a little too late that she is not alone this day as a hand rests down on her shoulder.

“Just as crazy as they get aren’t ya?” Lita wheels around almost too quickly surprising her visitor slightly. Truth be told the voice reminded her for some reason of her nightmare.*And as long as we are being honest with ourselves old girl it has still got you a little jumpy hasn’t?*

Fortunately before she has a heart attack she realizes the true identity of her visitor to be her fiance. Inferno he is called, not the most normal name in the world, but then again it isn’t his real name. Lita was the only one he ever revealed his real name to and she knows this to be a sign of the bond they share with one another. He stands slightly taller than she does even though she is very tall herself. His muscular build carries a slight tan that seems to nearly glow in the dingy lighting of the apartment. The outfit he has on doesn’t surprise her one bit as it is his favorite gi, a crimson red shirt that hangs loosely over a green undershirt and tucks into an also green sash-like cloth belt. The pants are also a dark crimson and tuck into a pair of black boots with golden pinstripes. His hair is black and short in a neat spiked pattern that always seems to appear the same and is held back by a green bandana. A small smile is on his face as he raises an eyebrow at her, one of his key trademarks that shows her she has at least sparked some kind of interest....

“Dang, Lita, you look awful.”...unfortunately not the kind of interest she was going for.

“Baka.” Lita turns angrily around and mock pouts as she allows a smile to slip onto her face. This treatment always gets him and she knows it worked again when she hears the sigh of resignation behind her.

“Ok, I’m sorry.” Inferno begins to overdramatically plead on his knees hanging onto the material of her shorts.

“Not good enough, I deserve to be treated as a true lady, sir. I will not waste my time with lowly peasants.” The act continues as such with Inferno begging for forgiveness and Lita denying him the ‘honor’ until she finally accepts his pleas. The whole charade is a common ritual between the two and is just another sign of the unspoken trust between them. Inferno is the first to finally break the enchantment and return to reality.

“Seriously Lita, you look bad...” this comment results in a death glare, ”Not in that way, I mean you look like you haven’t slept at all in days.” This is the truth as Lita well knows. Despite the bond they share her pride is the one thing that has kept her from telling Inferno of her troubles with the nightmares. It is her pride that causes her to continue to lie now.

“No, I’m ok. Just a little tired because I had a rough night’s sleep last night.” While not entirely a lie it is still a fair lengths way from the truth but seems to be enough to settle Inferno’s conscience for now.

Lita may believe she has her husband to be fooled, but Inferno was never one to be fooled easily and as he is not sure what is truly bothering her he decides to leave the subject for the time being. Besides there are much more important things on his mind now.

“I have a serious question to ask of you.”

“Uh oh, this isn’t about the time I threw the rat onto your head is it? I told you I was sorry I’m just scared to death of the things and it fell our right into my hands. What was I gonna do?”

Inferno smiles remembering that rather awkward moment but he and her both know that the subject was simply a distraction to try and keep away from the most dreaded subject in the world, marriage.

“No, it’s not about that and it’s not about what you think it is either so just relax.” Lita does as Inferno guessed right as to what she had feared he was going to ask. “I had another one of those feelings Lita and don’t say anything because you know what I am talking about.” She does as she closes her open mouth. He is talking about one of those rare moments when Inferno feels he needs to be somewhere. She simply sighs in resignation instead.

“I guess you have to leave soon then...”

“Not so fast, I think we both need to be there.” Lita’s eyes double in size as she looks up to see if he is joking in some kind of way even though she already knows he is not.

“Both of us?”

“Yes and we leave tonight if you think you can make it because I have another feeling. This is going to be dangerous.”

“What about Techno or one of the others, you know I’m not that useful to you..” Worries run rampant through Lita’s mind as she realizes for the first time ever Inferno is outwardly not only asking for her help but asking for her to use her skills to help him get through wherever it is he is going. The part that saddens her is that as much as she loves him, can she bring herself to finally put her life on the line for him as he has done so many times for her? Indecision wages war with her has Inferno places a consoling hand on her shoulder. She looks up and meets his firm gaze. What comes next surprises her as she feels his rough lips brush against hers .

“Even if I were going through the death pits in a hell only dreams could describe...There is no one in this world I would want by my side more than you.”

With her eyes welling with tears she says the only thing she can, “Where are we going?”

Authors Note: Well, a touching moment there for you romantics in the crowd and don’t worry there is plenty more where that came from. Wow two chapters from me in two days, maybe I am the one plagued by insomnia around here. So now we meet my personal favorite character (for obvious reasons) Inferno. I would now like to take this time to address the importance of these chapters you are reading (that's considering if people actually read this stuff) These chapters are simply preludes to a much, much larger story known simply as The Legend of Keystone and these chapters here are simply the prelude for Inferno and Lita. Along the way we will meet many interesting characters but only one other set of characters will get a prelude but we’ll talk about them later. Left the mystery man open for debate so as the story progresses people can guess until it is revealed in Keystone for sure. The question is though “Is Lita’s dream a premonition of sorts, will she survive if it is?” Please give me suggestions and ideas as well as comments in the reviews or feel free to email me. At this point most people would say “Ja ne” or “Sayonara” I’m going with my own personal favorite here....Momentai.