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Alexander's eyes fluttered open, his thoughts hazy and his senses dull, as if a fog had fallen over him; his sight blurry, the sounds of the environment around him muffled. Even the sensations he felt on his skin were muted. What was clear though, was the scent in the air. Pine, grass, the smells of the outdoors. Slowly, as if the fog was being very subtly lifted from him, the forms of the scene around him became clear, the sounds became sharper. But his mind remained in its haze. No memory of what had brought him here, or where 'here' is. A field, sparsely populated with trees; a stream not far off, and the sound of water running over rocks toward a far-off river, the barest rush of which could be heard in the distance. The cool air washing over his skin. It was spring, the grass on the ground still moist from a recent rainfall, and everything was green and fresh. Not a building in sight. But a great coniferous tree standing before him cast as tall a shadow as any structure the city might offer. In the ground beside Alexander, his sword, Grasscutter, had been planted, several inches into the dirt. And he was dressed in the off-white plated armor he had fashioned. And beside him, he only noticed after minutes had passed, was Skye.
*
Is this what it's like to be a mind reader? To see into someones dreams? Alexander's thoughts of himself in his dream were one of nobility. Yet there was Skye, one terrible truth she held about herself as she remained there upon the forest ground, clad in a white gown, arms bent and folded as fingers, fingers like vine, interlaced with the other. Perhaps her own view of herself is what she's stated she's felt like all along. Some monster. Some unclean thing that no one wants. With eyes that, instead of being brown? Were yellow with lizardlike slits. Little leaflets sprout and move upon her skin, deep grooves of moss embedded within her arms and legs. Another eye, which seemed normal, rested upon her forehead which remained closed as her others opened.
Maybe this is what she was meant to look like in the cocoon, but the vines themselves that seek the ground to help her sit upright wriggled and moved beneath the white cloth, even as she sits up.. the snapping of those vines felt like a tremor as if it were connected to the very earth she rests upon. "Ow.." She says quietly, her arms soon drawn among herself, her hair.. vines themselves creeping and wriggling along her shoulders like snakes. There was a look towards Alex, and then to her own hands and arms.. and with a turn and a bury of her hands into her palms, she begins to cry.
Which oddly enough sounds like fairies singing, fairies made of glass that shatter as they fly through the air and smash themselves against each other.
*
"Why are you crying?" Alex gives Skye a curious look, as though he didn't understand that she was changed from her physical self. Maybe he didn't realize this was a dream? Apparently this was all perfectly normal him, including Skye's appearance. "Come on, she's waiting," he says, giving the girl a smile, and motioning toward the tree. He reaches to pull Grasscutter from the ground, and a pool of blood begins to form from the earth he drew it from, which seems to Alex to be the most natural thing in the world, apparently, because he doesn't think twice about it. The young armour-clad man begins to walk toward the enormous tree, and as he draws closer to it, an industrial double door, steel and rivets, appears in the trunk. "She will be mad if we are late," he says, motioning again for Skye to follow him.
*
"Because I'm a monster.." Skye whines out, it would always become a point of contention until she accepts it, just as easily as Alex did then. Did he see her? Really see her? She was curious. But in a dream, things jump from her crying to her not. Already upon her feet with her hand reaching out towards his, dashing through the blood which wets her white gown as she clings close to him, the vines within her hair wriggling about maddeningly through the air due to their closeness. The approach of the tree.. the doors.. it gave her a feeling, a feeling that they shouldn't go in.. but that they should go in, but that she should do something.. but that it was hot, but that bacon and eggs sounded nice.. maybe pancakes.. or the pie down the street that Mrs. Walters likes to donate to the cafe for five dollars.. how do we know it's five dollars? "Who?"
*
Alex smiles again when Skye moves to meet him, and his hand reaches out to take hers, seeming to have no issue with the vines that make up her flesh now. "I don't know her name," he says, but continues toward the door in the trunk of the tree. As they draw closer, the tree seems to become even larger than it should, taking up much of their peripheral vision. The door opens, just slightly, with a loud creak, and Alex reaches out to pull it open further. "Hellooooooo?" He calls inside, and his voice echoes back.
It's dark inside, but Alex tugs Skye's arm for her to continue to follow him as he steps inside. And then door slams shut after they have gone in. You'd think that a light would come on, but it doesn't. Just dark. And quiet. And cold. Far colder than it was outside. Alex shivers. "We- we-" he stammers, his teeth chattering. "We're here. Like you asked." And then he turns to face Skye, even though he can't see her. "Skye, turn on a light," he says to the girl, as if he was expecting her to know just how to do that.
*
"Is it your mom?" Skye asks. "But you knew her name.. is it my mom? I don't know her name.. or what she looks like.." Even though they walk and speak, it feels almost like flying. Weightless, effortless thing to make the legs move. Her vision blacks out, and it was cold enough for her to wish for a blanket and a pillow to comfort her, but.. he wants the lights on. "Okay!"
*CLICK*
Skye was no longer the unclean thing she felt she was. But she was herself, a little bit older, crows feet settling upon the edges of her eyes, her belly large and swollen with a hint of a birth on the horizon, even though there was already a child upon her hip. The boy himself had no face. His hair long, dark brown that ended in curls. His little chubby hands pulled as Skye's nose as she reaches up to tug it down, the little fingers curling along her thumb as she waves his hand towards something in the distance. "Say hello little Brzrhakrezr!" Her voice, upon speaking the boys name sounded like a scratched record. Sound blotted out for reasons unknown, which Skye herself didn't notice.
*
When the light comes on, they are, in fact, inside a tree. A large, round room, with bark on the walls and a staircase leading up. Way, way up. "Let me take him," Alex says to Skye, reaching out to take the child in his arms. "You can't carry him up there. Not in your condition." The boy, once in his apparent father's arms, moves to ride on Alex's shoulders, takes hold of the sword and holds it as if it were the most natural thing in the world. "That's my boy," Alex chuckles, and starts to move toward the stairs. He looks up, toward the top of the tree's interior, but little more appears there than a blurry dim light. It could be miles of staircase to reach the top, but Alex seems undaunted. He glances back to Skye, and tilts his head as he watches her for a moment, before speaking to answer her question. "No, not either of our mothers. She.. I don't know what to call her. You'll see. You'll like her." And he starts up the stairs, the young boy on his shoulders. Not at a slow, careful pace, either. He runs, light on his feet and seemingly unaffected by the weight of the child perched atop him, two steps at a time. From above, a hum becomes audible, a low drone which gains volume slowly with each step Alex ascends.
*
"Thank you, you're a very sweet Husband." Skye says, willingly handing the child over as she rests her hand against the flat of her belly. Or round, which ever! "Do you think this one will do it? These three that'll finally kill me? Remember the volcanos in Montana? When Fravjrhrhgn was born, I sunk the entire city.. we almost died.. we all almost died.. I feel like it's a revenge.."
But even as she speaks, her voice begins to fade, the farther he had gotten, the quieter her voice had began. She was still there.. just far behind. Very far behind her husband and son..
*
"You were meant to do this, Skye," Alex says, his voice as clear as if he remained beside her, even though he's far ahead and moving further. "If you want out, take the door." The door is still there, after all. But he's not slowing down, even as that hum overhead grows louder and louder. But it's not coming from overhead, it's coming from below, it quickly becomes apparent. Thousands of tiny insects, rising from the ground around Skye, flooding the room. She'll have no choice but to either run for the door and hope it opens, or scramble up the stairs to outrun the bugs. Alex, meanwhile, keeps moving upward, carting the boy on his shoulders. "Better hurry, Skye."
*
"Then why am I here?!" Skye nearly screams out, her hands flailing about as the bugs seemingly cover her. Starting from her feet…
..but she was suddenly beside him, wings like a fly upon her back as she hovers next to him, the wings a loud hum as they flap and beat, her own hands hung in front of him. "What are you talking about?" She was no longer older, nor pregnant, the boy upon his shoulders giggles loudly with a wave of the Grascutter. "I feel like we've been at this for hours. Jfdsrrrg is starting to get hungry. Aren't you?"
*
Alex stops, turning to look at Skye. "Because you're supposed to be," he says, a confused look on his face. "Aren't you?" The confused look doesn't fade though. The boy on his shoulders is gone, and without warning the two find themselves in another room; no more staircase, no more tree, no more humming. Both are dressed in normal clothes, their normal selves. It's the apartment in Hell's Kitchen, unchanged from reality, except for the view outside, which overlooks the field they started in, and the giant tree in the distance. From here, though, the corpse of an enormous creature lies on the ground some distance away, crawling with vultures, maggots, and all manner of carrion scavengers. And then suddenly, out of the kitchen comes a woman, carrying a plate of banana pancakes. It looks like Skye, but in almost every way, except for her eyes, which are noticeably absent. "About time you got here. I was about to give up on you, Skye." And then her eyes flash to Alexander, her expression turning to anger. "What is THAT doing here, Skye. GET RID OF IT." And when Skye looks at him, she'll see a demon; black-skinned, red-eyes, horns, a barbed tail. The works, straight out of popular interpretation of the Christian bible. "What are you talking about.. Skye?" He opens to his mouth to say those words, but they come out only in incomprehensible jibberish, growling, hissing, and snarling, as a biblical demon might sound.
*
"I don't know, but I'm here, right?"
But everything changes. It wasn't a whirlwind, it was just within the blink of her eyes that they were back home. A look around the area of what they share brings a slight shock of the monster, dead, used for carrion upon the floor. "Alex.." Just when she was to reach for him.. -She- comes out of the kitchen carrying.. food. "Well, you don't have to give up on me, not just yet, Daisy." Skye says, her hands moving towards her jacket to shuck it free, allowing it to drop to the floor. Just as she was about to take a step forward to have a much deserved breakfast, her head snaps back to see.. -THAT- in it's place.
Even as it snarls and opens its mouth, Skye has a look of alarm upon her face, her hands raising up.. well, gloved and metaled hands, palms facing forward as she points a focused, vibrated blast towards the middle of the demons chest. "Stay behind me Daisy! I'll protect you!"
*
Demon-Alex is struck the by the blast of vibrative force, and flies through the wall. Fully breaking through the plaster and brick, leaving a large hole where once a very well-constructed piece of architecture once stood. Alex falls to the ground below, which for some reason takes an /awfully/ long time, as if it were miles to fall. And then he's gone. The eyeless likeness of Skye, who she has identified as 'Daisy', cowers behind Skye until Alex has been banished from the scene, only coming out when it appears to be safe. "Thank you," she says quietly, offering her to the pancakes. "You have no idea what that thing is.. best you destroy it before it hurts you even more. I know it told you it loves you, but you can't trust it. It's evil. It was born from evil, raised by evil, and will never know anything else. Everything it creates will be evil, too," she says, and motions toward the table, where three young children are eating breakfast. There's nothing physically wrong with them, but they're not eating pancakes. They're eating entrails. Human. With tall glasses of blood. And ice-cubes. "Don't let its seed take root. It will be the end of us." And with that she smiles, and everything vanishes, leaving Skye to wake.
Alex wakes suddenly, with a shout. He bolts upright, clutching his chest, breathing hard and fast. Sweat drips from him forehead, and his whole body is hot to the touch. The bruise is very real, dark black and red, covering most of his chest. "Skye.. killed me?"
*
"Daisy.." Skye murmurs as she turns to try to help Daisy upright, her hands gripping the arms of the woman, one gauntlet hand reaching out to lightly touch her face.. and the eyes. Where have her.. their eyes gone? The plate of pancakes were taken, and held against her, her eyes searching out the face of Daisy to find a bit of truth within her words. But.. they were there. And she felt it with her whole heart. "Daisy.. I .. I can't.." She states quietly, until she sees the children. They were hers. She felt that very much, she even felt the quickening of her heart, the way her eyes burned, how her face crumples into something that symbolizes a deep cry.. "Not them.. not.."
Skye was awake, alright. The shout allowed her to jump away from his chest, the blanket she tugged along her bare waist tugged up beneath her chin as she scrambles slightly away from Alex. The bruise upon his chest.. the dream.. did she.. did she hurt him? "I.. I didn't kill you!" She immediately rebuffs. "I'm here! You're here.. you're right here.. it was just a dream.." But.. does she admit that she was in it? Hell no.
She was afraid. So afraid.. "A.. Alex.. it's alright.."
*
"Ow." The bruise on his chest hurts. And he's a man who doesn't feel pain easily. "Yeah.. just a dream," he says, touching it tenderly. Still bleary from sleep, or lack thereof, he eases himself back down, and in moments is asleep again. This time, hopefully, a peaceful one.
And somewhere far off, a voice, which Skye might dismiss as just a memory from the dream itself, echoing quietly. "It will be the end of us.."
*