Step One, Two, Three
It's just a dream, it's just a dream, it's just a- Insei's eyes flittered open, and his blue eyes pierced the darkness that had contained them just moments before. He was right, this was a dream. He was inside a grand ballroom, looking as if it was made of the finest material one could find. It was a palace, and so much more. Not even the richest nations on the Earth could afford such a luxury! The clothes he wore, only nobility would be able to wear this kind of material, and that jewel-encrusted katana dangling at his hip! Awestruck blue eyes scanned the room, packed full of elegantly dressed individuals, some joking, some dancing, others just standing around talking.
A brown-haired boy about his age served drinks to people at a table, but hardly making eye contact with them, three girls were dancing with three respective guys, one laughing at her partner's joke; but, the most apparent people were a guy and a girl, obviously good friends, dancing near the center of the room. He felt some sort of connection with the two, and he walked towards the dancing couple. The princess had just turned towards another girl, the one he had seen earlier laughing, to speak with, and the prince, or whoever he was, had noticed Insei walking towards him, and was beginning to raise his hand in a handshake and was opening his mouth to speak-
The room had vanished, and was replaced with a foggy view of several people bent over him. "Oh, good, he's coming to," one of the figures said, and Insei's view slowly sharpened to reveal the speaker as a doctor leaning over him, "Glad you came back to the real world, Insei. We were afraid you might have gone into a coma.
"Wha… huh? What happened?" Insei asked groggily and placed his hand to his head to feel a rough gauze bandage wrapped around it.
"A car hit you while you were riding your bike. Luckily the driver was able to alert an ambulance. It was your helmet, though, that really saved you." Memories flooded back to Insei, the phone call home, biking to Manga House, and then the Mitsubishi that hit him. But the ballroom, the people all around him in there. They seemed so familiar… Was that really just a dream?
"Where are my brother and father?" Insei asked the man.
"Your dad is in the waiting room, your little brother is with your grandparents right now. Your dad didn't want him to be afraid of something bad happening to you. Do you want to talk with your father right now?"
Insei shook his head, "No, just tell him I'm alright. I'm gonna try to go back to sleep soon."
"Of course. I'm sure he will value your request. I'll go tell him now." The doctor bowed and walked out of the sterilized room towards where the waiting area was. Insei turned his head upwards and looked straight at the ceiling. Had he almost been subject to death… just to start a new life?