I managed to start calming down at school after this morning's night fright. Still, I felt on edge even after connecting to Lumina today and explaining to her everything that's been going on with me. If I'm asking for her advice on something, then we both know it's serious.

"Don't let it get to you."

She doesn't seem to understand the severity of the issue. "Lumina. These nightmares have been terrible lately. I need to talk to you about them, sometime today. But I guess it can wait until this class is over."

"Hey Reed!"

I perked up my ears, turning around to the person addressing me from behind. From her voice, I assumed it was Banarus. But when I went to look, I saw Banarus, with pitch black curly hair. For just a flash of a second, I saw Reba Sound within her, even though Banarus's hair wasn't actually black, just dark brown. The sight of Reba launched me backwards instinctively with a yelp. I fell flat on my back with a slight roll, freaked out at the thought that Reba might ambush me at any moment...

Of course, Banarus was not too thrilled, and everybody nearby who saw that started laughing at me. I was too embarrassed to try and explain myself, but Banarus sure game me a piece of her mind. "Don't act like that! I don't look that scary!"

Banarus normally doesn't have her hair that curly either. Could have fooled me, though I never really told anyone else about these recurring nightmares. Of course I was jumpy. Based on what I've seen so far, even Lumina might turn out to be simulation for another inception nightmare... But somehow I don't think that is the case. Either way, I've lost sleep over this already.

"She has a point Reed. It's just Banarus. These nightmares must really be making you paranoid."

"You don't get it Lumina. The person who keeps trying to kill me looks exactly like Banarus, just with darker hair and different colored eyes, and better makeup." I pulled myself off the ground, struggling to cope with this situation. This nightmare effect has another unintended consequence. I can barely look Banarus in the eyes anymore. I didn't think about it before the first time, but the resemblance between the two of them is astonishing.

"But they're just nightmares. You can't die in real life from one of those."

"Reba Sound tells me otherwise, claiming that such rules are different during lucid dreaming. She's tried to kill me three times now. I'm surprised her attempts keep failing."

"Isn't one failed attempt enough to debunk her claims?"

"Normally yes. But in every instance, I never actually died in the dream. The sudden heart shattering fear of coming that close to death is waking me up faster than she can actually kill me, am I'm certain Reba will even admit this much next time."

"It sounds scary..." I heard Lumina taking her time to think about it for the first time today. "But I stand by what I say. She's just yanking your chain Reed. Trust me! We would know if this happened to anybody on earth. You shouldn't be afraid of things like that. It's not real Reed."

"You say that like you know. But Lumina, for those moments, you aren't there to see it happen." Despite what I was saying now though, I felt a little bit better. I've been waiting for her to tell me that. Lumina wants me to trust her, for me to believe that I really am safe, even in the face of such danger. And I want to trust her. I wish I could stop having these nightmares altogether, but I know better than to assume things will be back to normal so soon. I have no choice but to confront the next dream.

From the moment I arrived in here, something has felt off. It's not that everybody is acting fake, but rather my memories of this morning are not matching up with how I got here. And that means, I'm lucid dreaming again...

The moment I realized this, I felt some kind of pulse or surge sent out from around me like a shock-wave, invisible and non-physical, but noticeable to me... Yep, not waking up from this one either, not the way others do. Okay, so if I'm actually dreaming again, and I'm staying awake inside my own dream, Reba Sound cannot be that far away. I wonder where she is right now, or why she bothers to pick the gym area for the arena of our showdowns.

"I've got you now!"

I couldn't even react to her surprise words at my ear, because a sharp shooting pain burned its way from a large portion of my back down to my thighs. I felt an unusual shove and shift from behind me, one so painful that it sucked all the air out of my lungs, leaving me breathless and too dizzy to stand. Once I fell to the floor on my stomach, the sharp pain started to burn more with intensity, as I struggled to move any other part of my body. It felt like I was partially paralyzed, and I'm certain this was a stab from behind. "My back! You, you stabbed me!"

Reba could see her own metal shard sticking out of my back, flooding that part of me with blood and some purple residue. She stood towering over me, so calm and smug. "Don't worry. You won't die right away."

Why do I feel the urge to throw up my whole stomach? I can't even move! This wasn't a normal knife stab... What did she do to me? It hurts like hell, but I'm somehow still alive.

"Right now, you're probably having trouble sitting up. And that pain is only going to get a lot worse. Soon, you'll start coughing up the blood about to pour into your lungs, once the poison in that metal shuts down your organs one by one, starting with the liver."

I started seething in a retaliation to try and get back at her for this, but the pain and paralysis were much stronger than I anticipated. I really couldn't move. Did she wait until the exact moment I became lucid just to attack me? It actually hurts like hell! Dammit Reba! This might really be it for me... If the pain she can inflict here feels this realistic and becomes this intense... "I'm going to die." I can't believe I didn't realize it sooner. I was right to be cautious about her intelligence. She may be a subconscious part of me, but it also means she is as smart as I am too. Reba knew the reason why her last attempted kill failed to work. She knew, that if she cornered me here and killed me with a slow acting poison, the effects would cloud my mind instead of shocking me awake like before.

From my own realization, Reba laughed in the most maniacal crazy manner I've ever seen, making her crazier than anything out of a villain from those cartoons I've watched as a child. I can't believe somebody can have this much fun killing me. "Yes! Yes! You are going to die Reed! You are going to die a horrible and painful death! Now just submit to this feeling and die!" She laughed the same way again, proving how happy she was in her desire to slaughter me.

But as for me, the pain really was getting intense, everywhere including my own head. I hate headaches more than anything, and now I have this mess to deal with. I'm going to die... I'm going to die in both worlds! I can't fight somebody who I can't control... This is really the end.

Of course, I was wrong about my own fear, thankfully. Most of the pain subsided, and I somehow found myself in my room again, in the middle of the night. Did I awaken from the nightmare because I finally died? It felt a bit soon. It hurt like hell, but I've felt worse than that in the real world from one of those level ten headaches before.

Speaking of headaches, I've got one right now, a nasty one at that. Maybe this is what woke me up. Is this headache random, or did Reba's damage somehow trigger this? I just don't know anymore. I wish I knew how to handle her, but I don't know what to do. I won't be able to contact Lumina today thanks to this morning headache. I might as well skip school because of it. I'm not going back to sleep anymore. But once tomorrow comes, I'm going to have to be on my guard again. I think I can finally say that I hate lucid dreaming.

"So I'm here again?!" I scampered looking all around me this time, waiting to see where Reba might try and ambush me. Reba wasn't even trying to hide this from me anymore. It was obvious from the moment I arrived here. The last thing I remembered was trying to go to sleep. I don't know why she keeps using the gym for the killing grounds. But what I do know, is that Reba Sound is still a part of my own subconscious imagination, a part of the brain that wants to tell us stuff. "So what is it then? What does my brain want to tell me so badly?!"

"That you don't deserve to live!" I heard the metal resonance echo of a large sword after I slid away to dodge Reba's attack from aside me. She managed to conceal herself in plain sight, jumping from the high end of the stacked bleachers to get the jump on me. She missed her downward strike, since I had enough real speed and reflex to get out of the way and distance myself from her in time. But Reba was not too pleased by it. "I thought I had you last time, but that poison took too long to kill you before you woke up from natural causes."

This is totally crazy! How does she know exactly in what ways I fall asleep and wake up? Right. Reba is supposed to be some dark image of myself or something. The more I thought about it, the quicker it reminded me of something Lumina told me earlier. She said, Reba is just part of the nightmare, fiction, something that cannot hurt the real me no matter what. I care to test that theory... "Tell me something Reba. Do you know who Lumina is?" I knew I would have enough time to relax upon asking that. I know I was going to get some curious answer.

"Of course I know who Lumina is. She's the woman you love so dearly."

Though she said that like it disgusted her, I winced a little from the way she was putting it, blushing at the thought. Love?! It, it's not that serious. "A— Anyway, the fact that you do know her proves that you really are just a figment of my own subconscious imagination. I know how the imagination and dreams work together. Lumina told me that much. Try as you may, you cannot kill me Reba." It felt so good to say that, to stand up to this witch after so long cowering in fear. I certainly don't want to feel any more pain, but Reba isn't anything more than a bad dream, given what she knows about the real world matching up with my knowledge perfectly.

"We're really going to go through this again?!" She was most angry to hear an ounce of defiance coming from me after all the fear she set inside. "I don't care if you realize it or not Reed. I'll just make this fast and easy this time. I'll strike you in your heart!" Reba wasn't being figurative, as she aimed her sword directly towards my chest.

But after what I've just learned, I opened my arms out wide and on purpose. If this illusion really thinks she can hurt the real me, then she's going to have to do a lot better than this. "Do your worst!" I've been involved with Lumina for so long now, that I fully trust her even in a situation like this. Nobody will come and save me from this nightmare. And Reba might actually kill this version of me while I'm lucid dreaming... I won't delude myself either. It will probably hurt like all hell.

But I didn't let this discourage me. My confidence only pissed Reba off more, and that was the reaction I was waiting for. "But I trust Lumina with my own life! If she says that part of someone's subconscious response cannot physically harm anyone, then I believe her. I don't know how Lumina knows all of the things that she does. I can safely say that she's the most intelligent person I've ever met. And as a friend, I would go a long way out to help her. You hear me Reba? I trust her completely, much more than I trust your shady lies! And should I be wrong, should I die here tonight on this earth, the worst thing that will happen to me is being transperated back into their world as another Altiri, which is something I'm starting to want. So I don't care anymore if I die. It's okay if I die, so long as I die knowing that I've done all the things I possibly can while I'm breathing, no matter which world I'm on. So do your worst, Reba Sound!"

"You asked for it!" Reba sprinted right at me, emitting a war cry and aiming the blade front and center. Right then, she actually did slide that sword right through my chest.

I wasn't shocked awake this time, because I really wasn't afraid of death, not anymore. I don't really believe I'm going to die anyway, even though the possibility exists. Of course, as soon as the sword touched me, all I could think about was the magnitude of pain this put me through. I could feel my own heart rate jumping wildly, as if it couldn't figure out what to do next. The pain in my chest was beyond excruciating, and I couldn't scream since it knocked all the air from my lungs in an instant. Before I knew it, everything started to feel dark and cold.

I'm sure I was blacking out. I'll wake up soon. The question is, will I wake up in my own bed, or in Lumina's? Who is right here? Was I right to trust Lumina, or was Reba a murdering freak of nature spawned by whatever darkness lurks within my mind?

When I woke to my surroundings once more, I was pain free, refreshed, and relaxed, all in the comfort of my own room... So, she stabbed me in the heart, and I didn't die. Guess Reba Sound was wrong after all. If she ever shows up in my dreams again, I'm sure she won't bother me anymore. She has no power if she can't actually kill me.

I felt much better after realizing it. This time, I didn't wake from the dream sweating or screaming. I actually won! I beat her at her own game! And it was all because I trusted in Lumina, as well as myself. Figments of the imagination cannot affect the real world or people of the real world, at least not in a physical manner. Of course, this proves that Lumina is more real than anything I've ever known. I'm just glad the madness is all over.