Little Tsu: Hooo boy...I really hate my mind sometimes. It really sucks ta have my imagination on freakin' 24/7...Anywho, this is gonna be a bit on the short side, but hey! At LEAST I got the next chapt of this up finally, right?...Right.

Ch: 3

{Nia's POV}

~"You know...I didn't think I'd end up meeting you like this."

Jolting slightly from my place where I sat on the floor, I jerked my wide magenta gaze towards the figure that stepped out of the shadows within Eyrie Building. Blinking slightly in shock at the sight before me, I glanced around panickedly for a moment to realize it was daylight still. However, there was something different about this scene. I was standing now for one, but when I glanced behind myself, I found myself staring at, well, myself! I was sitting there within the shadows, sound asleep, but what was so different from usual was that Brooklyn was actually there. He was tucked away safely in the shadows to where the sunlight couldn' reach him and thus, he hadn' been turned to stone for the day. However, he was still sound asleep with his arms wrapped protectively around my body as we sat there together on the floor and his head resting between my horns; nestled on top of my head.

"How...? How is this happening? I'm standing right here, but...at the same time, I'm still asleep?"

"Oh don't worry...You're still asleep and in the arms of your,...well, I suppose I should say 'guardian' for right now..."

The owner of the voice chuckled in amusement towards my aparent shock, causing me to bring my gaze back onto him. He was a gargoyle as well, but he had a much more bat-like appearance to him. He had talons and feet just like any other usual gargoyle and he had a long sleek tail with nothing at the end of it, unlike my own, but that's kinda where the similarities to the gargoyles I was used to ended. He had thin redish-brown fur covering his entire self and a face like that of a fruit bat so it was fox-like in style. His wings that were folded up behind himself was also very much like a bat's. His eyes were a soft hue of crimson, but his short, messy hair that had a pair of slightly large bat ears sticking out of the top of it was what stood out to me the most. It was the same orchid shade as my own. He looked to be no more than maybe nineteen in appearance with a lean build much like Brooklyn's from what I could see despite the slightly baggy black jeans that he wore and the black t-shirt he had on as well that had ripps in the back for his wings. Around his left wrist was a black leather band and to finish off his attire a silver chain dangled down on the right side of his chains. All in all, a rather attractive gargoyle to be perfectly honest; one that rivaled even Brooklyn's looks to me.

Quickly snapping out of my thoughts towards studying the one before me, I finally spoke up. After all, I needed to know further on just what was going on and who he was exactly. "Not that I don' mind the odd company, but...what is this exactly and who are you? Earlier, you said something about not thinking you'd meet me like this...What did you mean?"

The gargoyle before me crossed his arms over his chest as he shifted his weight to be more on his left foot than his right as an almost thoughtful look appeared on his features. "Well, to explain things as simply as I can towards what this is, is that you're dream walking. It's an ability that you gained thanks to those stupid scientists that experimented on you. The only reason you didn't never dream walked before till now though is cause the ability, along with the memory flashes you get from certain things or places wasn't awakened till now."

"Ok, I kinda get it, but...that doesn' really explain too much on other things...Like who you are, why these things chose now to awaken, and...how you seem to know all of this."

"Ah, now those are quite good questions. Well, to be perfectly honest, they awakened now cause of me." Now that really got my attention as my eyes widened in shock again. However, before I could speak, the mysterious gargoyle before me continued on. "They awakened cause I returned here;...to Manhattan. Your sleeping abilities linked with my own and that automatically awakened them inside of you..."

"I..." Shaking my head, my brows knitted in confusion as I tried my best to wrap my mind around all of this. Some of it made sense, but then the reasoning behind my abilities awakening doesn'. "What do you have anything to do with this? Just who are you?"

"You mean you can't tell?...You don't remember?" The male then began to step forward as he started to come closer to me. It honestly got me a bit nervous cause I had no idea if he was capable of harming me in this dream walking state or not. When he halted just maybe two feet at the most in front of me, his crimson eyes gazed down into my own magenta as if searching for something. "You don't...Or rather, you do, but you don't reconigze me. Then again, I don't blame you. For one, you were still just a toddler when we last saw each other and...well, like you, once the fox bat and gargoyle cells that the scientists placed inside of me awakened, my age jumped in order for the experiment to work. I was ten and still ten when you last saw me...My age in appearance within this form halted at nineteen when it finished excalating." His eyes then softened gently as he lifted a taloned hand up ang gently caressed the side of my face, which I couldn' bring myself to move away from as my mind processed this information on what all he was saying. There was just no way that he...

The words still hesitantly slipped out passed my lips though before my brain could stop it. "B-Brother...?"

The moment I said it though, a tender smile formed onto his features as he nodded his head lightly. "I've missed you Nia..." That did it for me. Tears suddenly welled up within the corners of my eyes as a broken look formed onto my features before I finally leaped up and threw my arms around his neck; clinging to the taller gargoyle before me. As I did though, strong arms quickly wrapped around me in return as they were careful of my smaller wings while holding me flush against his larger form; his face burying itself into my hair and the side of my neck. "God, I've missed you so much sister. I'm so sorry I left you behind. I never meant for any of this to happen to you..."

Whimpering softly in response to his words, I merely buried my own face against his neck and shoulder as I continued to cling to him as if I were a helpless child. I couldn' believe it. My big brother was really alive still...And now somewhere in Manhattan... "Zane...Where are you? I...I wanna see you and I mean really see you; when we're awake..."

"I can't reveal myself just yet Nia. It's too soon to do so. Those men are still out there. They're still after you and looking for me as well. It's not safe, but I promise you, Nia...You will find me when the time is right and when you do, I'll never leave you again. Even if I have to join this new family of yours in order to make it happen..." As he finally pulled away from me slowly, he seemed as reluctant to release me as I was towards him. However, he seemed to force himself to do so as he took a few steps back away from me. "I need to go now Nia...I promise though, I'll see you again soon in another dream walk when I know it's safe enough to do so...Take care of yourself sister..."

Before I could say anything more or even try to stop him just so I could get a few more minutes with him, Zane vanished right before my eyes and then a few seconds later, I was thrust awake from the dream walk myself.~

Gasping slightly for breath as I jolted awake in my spot, my wide, frantic gaze glanced around myself before realizing I really was awake now.

"Mm? Nia...? What's wrong?"

Picking up on the drowsy voice beside me, I turned my head to lock my gaze with the dark, tired eyes of Brooklyn. "I-I'm sorry...I didn' mean to wake you up Brooklyn. I just...I had a dream..."

Pulling an arm away from my waist, he brought his taloned hand up to his face as he rubbed his left eye sleepily before bringing it back down to rest around me; pulling me closer to himself in the process so that I was now curled up further against him. "Was it a bad dream?" At this point, the hand that was behind me began to gently stroke my hair in a soothing manner that seemed to slowly calm my nerves.

"No...Not a bad dream...It was my brother...He came to me in my dreams and talked to me. He's returned to Manhattan, but...he says we can't be really reunited again yet; that it's not time or safe yet..."

"I see...Well, when it is time, I'll be right there with you the whole way Nia...I'll never let you go, I promise..." He then shifted his head against mine and brushed his lips against my forehead as he whispered soft reassurances to me, which eventually lulled me back into a gentle sleep for the rest of daylight. The last thing I remember before sleep took me once more was the easy rise and fall of his chest and the way his breathing told me that he too had fallen back asleep with my head now resting against his chest and an arm gently wrapped around his waist...

To be continued.

Little Tsu: I thought this was a rather touchin' SORTA reunion that Nia had with her big brother, Zane & also, it might be wrong or it might be true, but I figured that the gargoyles only ever turned to stone in the daytime cause the sunlight is what turned them. So I thought that if Brooklyn stayed hidden within the safety of the shadows of his clan's home, then he wouldn' turn ta stone.

Side note: Me thinks Brooklyn now has a prefered method of sleepin' durin' the day. lol