Two hours had passed since Vee was unceremoniously stuffed into Melissa’s bag. Much to the girl’s relief, the doll had not decided to speak up during class and had left her to do more important things. When those two hours had passed, a decent portion of it made up of explaining why victims of child abuse didn’t typically speak up until far later in life and the like, class was dismissed. That left Melissa with one hour to take care of anything else before her friends got out of their classes and they would collectively make their way to Brisk Wind Café.

As soon as she got out of the classroom, Melissa felt the vaguest sensation of a kick against her backpack. With a sigh, she realized that the doll’s patience wasn’t going to last much longer and headed towards the nearest set of stairs. Following the stairs up to the top floor of this particular building and then making her way halfway down the hallway, Melissa came to a bathroom. She opened the door, went inside, and then locked the door behind her so that no one would hopefully barge in. After a deep breath, she took off her backpack and laid it on the ground.

“Okay, we’re good,” Melissa told Vee.

“Then please get me out of here. These books of yours are squishing me,” Vee said. While Melissa knew the doll couldn’t see her at the moment, she gave a nod. Without needing to be told twice, the trans girl opened the pocket of the backpack she had stuffed Vee into and watched as the doll sprung out of it in cheer. “Freedom! Sweet, sweet freedom!”

Melissa watched Vee jump from her backpack onto the tiled floor of the bathroom. Now that she was no longer scared of the fact a living doll was before her, the girl was able to realize just how odd it was that there was, well, a living doll before her. She had already proved to herself earlier that this was not a dream, which only made the sight of Vee strange. When the doll was done making invisible snow angels on the bathroom floor, it sat up and looked at her.

“Hey, uh, sorry for that really awkward introduction earlier,” Vee said, rubbing the back of her mouth-head. “I haven’t exactly had the calmest day, and when I realized you smelled so strongly of nightmares I kind of lost myself for a moment.”

Melissa raised an eyebrow and pointed at herself. “I smell like what?”

“Nightmares. You know, the dreams made from your fears, traumas, and worst memories. You smell heavily of nightmares and to a living nightmare like myself it is… intoxicating,” Vee said, her voice dripping with joy and excitement as she spoke. While Vee was clearly happy about it, Melissa couldn’t help but bite her lip as she heard the strange doll’s words. “Anyways, got off track again. Call me Vee, a living nightmare and resident of the realm of dreams.”

“Um, Melissa Rogers. Nice to meet you, Vee,” Melissa responded, holding her hand out. Vee held her tiny, plush arm out and shook it with the girl before her. When they were done, Melissa brought her hand to her face and started caressing her cheek. “So, you are a nightmare? How are you here when I’m not dreaming?”

“The fact that I’m the first you’ve seen awake is relieving,” Vee said, letting go of some tension in its body it didn’t realize it had. “Let's just say I pulled open a portal between the realm of reality and the realm of dreams. You are lucky that I’m not like some other nightmares. They wouldn’t be nice like me.”

“Like the other… okay, let's back up a moment,” Melissa replied. She pointed to the Vee as she continued to speak. “Realm of reality I’m guessing means the universe I’m currently in, and that means you are from a universe where dreams and nightmares are real. Am I getting it right?”

“To an extent,” Vee answers. She held both plush arms out, the right above the left with just a little space keeping them from touching. “It is more like a separate plane of existence. Your world, which I’ll represent with my left hand, has you humans. My people typically call you dreamers. When you dream you bring new living nightmares and living dreams like myself into existence or help feed existing ones.”

She let the space between her right and left arms fall away, clamping them together as if she was making an alligator maw with them.

“When your sun falls away from view, the barrier between our realms is less solid and both dreams and nightmares are more powerful. Something like the emotional state of you dreamers being more intense during those periods of the day,” Vee explained. Melissa couldn’t help but feel intrigued at what she was hearing, her brain relating it to lore out of an RPG. “I used what little power I had during this time of day just to get myself to your realm. It wasn’t easy, even with that barrier breaking.”

Melissa’s eyes went wide as she heard that. “Wait, this barrier is breaking?”

Vee’s mouth hung open for a moment, then closed. “Oh, yeah. You wouldn’t know about that. Well, girl, I hate to tell you this but your realm is in a teeny bit of trouble. By teeny, I of course mean your entire race, as well as that of the dreams, is in danger of being enslaved or driven to extinction.”

Those words were followed by three minutes of dreadful silence, Melissa trying to make sense of the bombshell that Vee had just nonchalantly dropped on her. The girl stood up, made to turn left only to notice that she was directly in front of a mirror, and then turned to her right in an attempt to keep dysphoria from hitting her. She quickly tried to make sense of everything that was going on, before wondering what the heck she had done in the past to bring all of this upon her.

“I know, what I just said is probably a little concerning but–”

“A little?!” Melissa shouted, turning around and kneeling so that she was once again unable to see herself in the mirror. She grabbed Vee by the top of its head-mouth and lifted it into the air. “Okay, what the hell did you do to put Earth in this situation?”

“I swear it isn’t my fault! I’m actually trying to keep them from invading your realm so I would appreciate not getting yelled at and put comfortably back on the floor,” Vee explained, flailing her arms uselessly as she spoke. As the doll requested, Melissa let go of her and watched the doll plop onto the floor. She quickly back onto her feet, putting her hands on her hips and looking at Melissa. “As I said, I’m on your side. I came here to the realm of reality to make sure that the nightmares don’t take over.”

“I’m not complaining, but why would you want to help us when it is your kind invading?” Melissa asked.

“Because I’m smarter than most of my fellow nightmares and know that what this new night terror is trying to do would also lead to my people becoming extinct too,” Vee replied. The words night terror made Melissa shiver a little, remembering the countless number of those she had awoken from in the night. “Which is why, as the first dreamer I met, I would like to ask you t–”

Vee was interrupted by the sound of Melissa’s phone vibrating from her pocket. Both the human and doll looked to where her phone was, and then back to each other. Melissa let out a sigh, reaching into her pocket and preparing to see her mother’s number once again. Instead, she saw Dragon’s number on the screen, the tension she didn’t know had built up in her body disappearing as she quickly looked to Vee.

“I’m assuming this is important, so go ahead,” Vee told her.

“Thank you,” Melissa replied before pressing the confirm button and holding her phone up to her ear. “Hey Dragon. Something up?”

This content has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.

“Just letting you know our professor wasn’t able to make it in today. Seems that the snowstorm from yesterday hit worse than it shows in Burlington,” Dragon muttered to her from the other side of the phone. Vee turned to the phone, Melissa not realizing that they could hear her friend despite both not being on speaker phone and Dragon’s quietness. “So we are gonna make our way to Brisk Wind now.”

“Got it. I’ll meet you, Lucy, and Drew at the front of the college then,” Melissa replied. Dragon hung up immediately after hearing her friend’s response, just barely beating Melissa’s attempt to do the same. With the call over, the girl turned her phone off and put it back into her pocket. “Apologies Vee, but I guess I didn’t have as much time as I thought I did.”

“No, no that is completely fine,” Vee replied, a newly added excitement in its voice that wasn’t there before coming out. “If you got friends we should tell them too. Besides, I think I recognize that voice.”

“You… but didn’t you…” Melissa replied, not sure exactly where she was trying to go with her choice of words. Shaking her head, she decided to ignore Vee’s last sentence and focus on the fact the nightmare doll was correct. If there was some sort of incoming invasion, the more people who knew the better. “Get back in my bag!”

Vee lurched back as she heard the command. “Back in there? Haven’t I already suffered enough over the past two hours?”

Melissa chooses to ignore the doll's complaints, and picks them up by the top of their mouth-head. She used her free hand to unzip the same pocket of her backpack she had stuffed Vee into earlier. Just like earlier, Vee found herself squished into the girl’s backpack unceremoniously, After zipping the pocket back up, Melissa put it back on and unlocked the bathroom door. As she stepped out, she heard a dissatisfied groan come from the doll.

“You’re a meany,” Vee stated. Melissa ignored her comment.

----------------------------------------

Looking out over Lake Champlain, the Brisk Wind Café considered itself rather lucky to have gotten through the worst of the pandemic with not too much loss. It was a family run establishment that was set up nearly ten years ago by a man named Ben Hoover and his wife Natalie. It has stayed within the family since its opening, with Ben and Natalie handing it off to their son Matthew and his husband Jeffery when they retired. Dragon knew that one day either her or her brother would do the same, if not both. Till that day, it would serve as a wonderful place to call part of her home, and a great place to study with her friends.

Well, most of her friends would study. She knew Melissa would never let anyone see her do it in a public space.

As it was far too cold to consider walking down to the café, Dragon and the others made their way to the Café via Lucy’s convertible. After parking in the closest available parking lot and putting in more than enough quarters into the parking meter for their stay at the cafe, they made a mad dash through the wind. Drew reached the Café entrance first, holding the door open for Melissa, Dragon, and Lucy and closing it behind them. Melissa and Dragon both put their hands on their knees in exhaustion, the former wanting to collapse to the floor while the latter just cursed her lack of motivation to exercise.

“How the fuck are you tired from that?” Lucy asked in extreme disappointment at both her friends. “Like, even with the wind this place wasn’t even half a mile from where I parked.”

“You two do realize that our campus has a gym to use at any time, right?” Drew asked, his words only making Dragon feel even worse about finding the will to exercise.

“Yeah, but who’s got time for that when they have more important things to do?” Melissa said, doing her best to stand straight. She gave a smirk to Drew, the man looked back at her with no obvious expression on his face.

“You do,” He stated, crossing his arms. “You spend half your time during the day in your room, playing online matches on that damn shooter game. Remember how you used to have a decent amount of muscle when you first started your transition? Didn’t you want to keep that?”

“Nah. It is a more euphoric feeling like the weak little princess that everyone around her wants to protect,” Melissa replied, putting a finger against her lips and giving her friend a playful look. “You gotta admit, I’m pretty good at it.”

“What do you mean, you're terrible at it.”

While Lucy and Drew looked around, stunned at the new voice, Dragon and Melissa’s eyes fell on the latter girl's backpack. Dragon wanted to reach out and unzip it, but she held in the urge. One look at Melissa told her the girl wasn’t too happy about whatever had said it, though whether it was dysphoria or general annoyance she didn’t know. Having finally finished catching her breath, Dragon stood up and pointed at the backpack.

“You have someone on call?” She asked the trans girl.

Melissa sighed and brought her left hand to her forehead, resting her elbow on the palm of her right hand. Her actions drew Lucy and Drew’s attention, leaving her with far more eyes on herself than Dragon knew she likely wanted.

“No, my phone is in my coat pocket,” She answered, the slightest of a growl in her voice. “Vee was supposed to stay quiet till I gave the okay.”

“Vee?” All three of her friends asked.

Before Melissa had the chance to escape, Dragon found herself getting wrapped up from behind by someone. After a moment of worry, she quickly realized who it was. It helped that Lucy’s eyes had quickly turned from Melissa to the figure, her face turning red. That was all she needed to know to gain an idea of who had decided to enter her personal space.

“And so, the dragon’s sibling wraps his wings around her in a hug of comfort.” The man behind her said. Dragon rolled her eyes and looked at her brother, her brown eyes meeting his icy blue ones. “As usual, she accepts.”

“Yes she does, you dork,” Dragon replied, wrapping her arms around him happily. “What are you doing here this early? I expected you would be in class right now.”

Now Drew and Melissa joined in by staring at the newcomer, though nothing about them was exactly new to the group. Dragon’s brother was a thin man around their age, short black hair and the start of a beard on his face. He wore white sweatpants and a gray hoodie with a video game slime on it. Despite casually barging into the friend group’s conversation, there was no surprise on any of their faces.

Lucy, however, had frozen where she stood. There was a bit more red than usual on her face.

“Well snow storm made it impossible for teachers to get in, so I got a snow day,” Her brother said, pulling away from the hug and turning his attention to his sister’s friends. “Yo Me-me, Lu, D. Have the vibes been good to you all?”

“Outside of getting glomped by my friends, pretty good,” Melissa replied. Drew glanced at Lucy as he heard the trans girl's quick summary of events. “You, Cam?”

“Same old, same old,” Cameron answered, shrugging. “You’re all here to study I’m guessing?”

“Y-y-yeah. Is our usual spot open?” Lucy asked with an unusual stammer in her voice. Dragon glared at her, and the French girl turned away in embarrassment.

“Yep. I’ll go grab Matt and Jeff. You all can take your seats,” Cameron answered, giving a wave as he headed off towards the back of the cafe towards the register.

Drew nodded, taking the lead as they headed towards a table at the left side of the room. Dragon lagged behind so that she was next to Lucy, her friend still red in the face. She wasn’t the first woman that had fallen for her brother, and given his lack of romantic interest in anyone it wouldn’t be the last. It was why, despite the harsh glare Dragon had given Lucy earlier, she patted her friend’s back. Her brother had managed to leave yet another broken heart without even knowing it.

“There there,” She muttered to Lucy. “It happens to every girl that meets him. Even some guys.”

“It’s not fair,” Lucy said, making sure to stay similarly quiet so that the target of her affection didn’t hear. “Why is every hot guy or girl I meet either not interested or already taken?”

Dragon closed her eyes. Her friend's words struck a chord with her.

“I feel ya, Lu. I feel ya,” She replied as she took her seat. Just like in breakfast, she was next to Drew while Lucy was next to Melissa. The trans girl found all eyes upon her, a look of disappointment telling Dragon they already knew what was about to be said. “So, the voice we heard from your backpack earlier…”

“Honestly, it is both relieving and sad to know all three of you could also hear it,” Melissa said, swinging her backpack in front of her. The weight of it leaning into her breasts was uncomfortable, she didn’t have another option. “Just don’t scream. Don’t want extra attention on us.”

“The hell can you have that would cause us to scream?” Lucy asked, tilting her head.

Dragon watched Melissa intently as she put her hand on one of her backpack’s zippers. After taking a moment to breathe, she unzipped it and without a second's hesitation Vee popped out. Dragon’s eyes went wide as the nightmare doll crawled out of the backpack and flopped its way onto the table. Looking around her, she could see that Drew and Lucy’s reactions were nearly identical, though the former’s eyebrows were also raised while the latter's hands went up to their mouth. Once Vee had recovered from its fall, it looked to Dragon and ignored everyone else currently around it.

“Yes! I knew it was you talking to Meany on the phone earlier,” Vee replied. Melissa’s eyes twitched at the nickname. “It is wonderful to meet you, my dreamer.”

With no idea how else to respond, Dragon said the first three words that came to her mind. “What the fuck?”