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Skye came home last night, and found Alex in a near catatonic state. Huddled in the corner like a madman in an asylum, muttering to himself. He hadn't slept in days, nor eaten. The place was a mess and the air musty from not having even opened the door to go anywhere. The sword, Grasscutter, lay on the floor beside him, and when Skye had come in he had almost begged her to use it on him.
But Skye's mere presence had helped, at least temporarily. She had cleaned up him, fed him some food, and he seemed to be back to his old self. Mostly, at least. They had gone to bed, and she had woken to go to work, leaving Alex home, still asleep in bed, which he so desperately needed. But now the apartment is empty. Alex is not in bed, but it is perfectly made. The sword is right where Skye left it, in the closet, and the door is locked, just as it had been when she left for work. No sign of a forced entry, and Alex' key is hanging on the hook as it always is; he didn't leave by the front door, since it remains locked. At least it smells better in here, though.
*
It was all a strange turn of events. Skye went to work and returned home in a huff, prepared to let loose a tirade of angry words until… nothing. There, was nothing.
Clothes were still in the drawer, neatly folded as Skye had put them. The bathroom wasn't steamed nor clothes were strewn upon the floor. Food still was put away, and.. nothing. Even Grasscutter was still in the closet, but not for long. With the keys hung upon the door, Skye's teeth clench ever so gently as she stands in the middle of the room, blade soon slammed into the middle of the floor, her fingers curling around the hilt as she takes up a ever watchful squat at the door. She doesn't know why she does it. She wasn't afraid of him being gone or leaving her. She doesn't even know why she doesn't look for him as she usually would in a fright. She was just literal.. dead space. And deep in thought.
*
A knock at the door. Thalia just had an urge to visit Alex and Skye today. She didn't even know if they were home. However, she's learned in life that when she's drawn to a person or a place, it's usually for a good reason. The three Fates, perhaps, giving her a nudge to where she needs to be. It's because of this that she doesn't question the urge to go visit her nephew and his girlfriend.
One more quick knock on the door. If she doesn't get an answer, she'll leave. But she hopes that someone will answer.
*
It was a needling feeling. The press of the grasscutter slowly sinking through the wood, her fingers twisting and turning the hilt as she stares towards the door. Everything slowly begins to rattle at a deliberate pace, even as the knock upon the door was heard.. little pindrops of nails and metal soon break apart the doorknob and the hinges to the point that once the final knock was issued?
The door itself falls flat upon it's back on the middle of the floor.
There was lack of surprise in Skye's face, her eyes slowly lifting to stare towards Thalia, finally rising with a smile. "Want something to drink?" She asks, her brows soon lifting. "And.. we should talk. Girl stuff." She hefts herself upright, pushing the grasscutter harder into the floor so that it could stand upright. And then it was off into the kitchen she goes, straight to the cupboard to find some clean cups for a nice glass of water.
*
"Well, that ain't good. That ain't good one single bit." Thalia murmurs to herself. Stepping over the door, she glances at Skye. "Was that me or you?" She lifts the door up, seemingly with ease, almost as if it was just a piece of paper, and she gently places it in its hinges for the time being. At least they get some privacy this way.
"Sure. A drink. A drunk would be good." Heeled steps click foward as she appraoches the kitchen. "Is something wrong? There's something…different." She stares about the apartment, glancing toward the sword as she passes it. "I'm pretty sure swords aren't supposed to be kept standing up in a floor."
*
"That was me." She states. "Side effect of being a monster. Things just fall apart." It was said almost so casually, as the glasses were found and the fridge was opened to retrieve the bottles of freshly squeezed orange juice. "Ice?" She asks, keeping her back turned.
"I left Alex for a few days." She starts out. "When I came back, he was a mess. In the corner, curled up. Haven't slept for a few days. Didn't even eat either. It was hard to see him like that.. And.. I knew what he was asking. He gave me his sword to kill him with it, because he couldn't." She looks back towards Thalia. "I know that look. Whenever I was 'returned' to an orphanage, I had that same look." She wrinkles her nose, then shrugs.
"He might be dead." She states, pouring the glass of OJ and speaking about Alex as if she were talking about the way paint dries. "Or he finally left me to teach me a lesson about leaving him. I don't know."
*
"Oh, oh sweet baby Alex, what did you do to her?" She murmurs quietly, rubbing her eyes and shaking her head. Thalia sighs. "I'm sorry Skye." For a few things. "Ice…ice would be good." She raises an eyebrow. "You ain't no monster, let me tell ya that! I've met a few monsters in my time, and you're just someone who can do some things. We all can do some things."
She takes a deep breath in, looking around, letting one hand reach up and around, as if feeling the very air around them. "I don't think he's dead. And I don't think he's responsible for what happened to him. There was a presence here. More powerful than Alexander. More powerful than myself. I think that whoever it was is responsible for him leaving, whether he left by choice or not."
*
Skye was mindful enough to wash her hands before she gets the ice, dropping it into the OJ then places both cups upon the table. She settles down then, her eyes upon her own cup, her fingers lightly tinking against the glass. "I guess." She says dryly, but that was an issue she had to come to terms with herself, but Thalia's earnest and honesty makes her smile.
She watches the dark woman with curiosity, her head tilting slightly as she glances towards the blade. He was taken. By someone powerful. Someone more powerful than Thalia? "Wha.. is.. do you feel that the person, or whatever it is was like me?" Skye stands then, taking those few slow steps towards Thalia. "Can you tell?" Cause if it was Maximus? She was about to stomp some holes into an Inhuman king.
*
"Don't be so hard on yourself. You're a good person. Maybe one who has had bad things happen to her, but good nonetheless." Thalia says as she continues to look around the apartment, brow furrowed. Accepting the juice with a small 'Thanks', she hums softly as she takes a sip.
Shaking her head, she sighs. "No. It wasn't someone like you. It was a god. Perhaps an Olympian, though that would just be a guess at this point." She walks around, gently steps landing as she tries to get a greater sense of what happened.
*
"I.. suppose I shouldn't." Skye wisely says. But she manages to step out of the way as Thalia begins to work, following her around as if she took up to be the guard to the Goddess. "So. That's good." She says now. "But an Olympian? Could it have been an Asgardian?" Weren't they all the same? Her hands draw behind her back, and as she passes by the grasscutter, she yanks it clean from the floor. She wasn't going to let his treasured blade out of her sight, no. So with that, she goes to the closet, dipping inside to rummage around for it's sheath. "Can you find Alex this way too?"
*
"It could have been an Asgardian. I know that Alexander said that Ares had put him in the care of Asgardians." Thalia replies. Though she has her own doubts about that. As they search the apartment, she catches a scent that seems ever so familiar. She sniffs about, leaning forward and smelling various different locations. It doesn't matter if she looks silly, she has a theory! "I smell the scent of the poppy."
A look of annoyance and frustration crosses her face. "I'm such an imbecile!" She growls to herself. "With your talk of shared dreams…I just assumed it was some psychic link between you and Alexander, perhaps with some precognition thrown in. How could I be so idiotic!" She rolls her eyes and sighs. "MORPHEUS! Of course it's Morpheus!"
*
Still, Skye was rummaging within the closet, feeling the leather straps and finally tugging it free. She stands in the doorway, fixing the buckles to make it a little bit more smaller. Alexander was a lot bigger than her, by far. Once this was fit upon her body, she straps the Grasscutter to her back, twisting and turning in front of the mirror to make sure that it fit. She looks cool as all get out, and Thalia's blurted words do not gain a response. Nope. Not one bit.
"Morpheus." She states quietly. "Huh." She checks to ensure another fit, then steps away from the closet entirely to go towards her juice. "So he took Alexander?" There was a pause for confirmation, for she was picking up her orange juice to drink it down, sans ice. "Let's go kill him."
What the hell?
*
"Morpheus. The God of Dreams." Thalia states. "He is no ordinary god. We can defeat him, or at least get Alexander from him, but it won't be easy. He is the son of Hypnos, the grandson of Nyx and Erebus. These are Old World gods, and this coming from someone who considers her father, Zeus, to be old." She seems deeply troubled by this.
"There are ways to…bring him to Earth. To summon him, so to speak. But we can't hold him on this plain. But there's no way, and I mean no way, for us to hold him here. At least not for any significant amount of time that would permit us to do anything to him." She shakes her head. "No. If you want to truly meet him on an equal field of battle…" She sighs and closes her eyes. "I'm afraid this is where things get a little more tricky, and I'm afraid to even suggest it. But one, or both, of us will have to go into the dream world and track him down there. Once that's accomplished, maybe we can persuade him to hand over Alexander. Or, at least figure out a way to incapacitate him long enough to rescue and free Alexander."
*
Skye finishes her orange juice, the glass put down upon the table as she turns to lean against it, her arms folded about her chest as she watches Thalia. Her demeanor was a little cold, her lips quirking into a little frown as things were slowly being put together. The more that Thalia speaks, the more and more that Skye was getting pissed off. Quite literally.
"So.. he.. was the reason as to why I was so afraid of Alexander.." She murmured quietly, her hand lifting to pull down the collar of her shirt. The handprint was still there, but slowly.. very slowly fading. "Alexander was dreaming when he did this, just rolled over and choked me." There was a moment of quiet, even as she stands up to carefully stride towards Thalia to reach out and lay a gentle pat upon her shoulder.
"Don't be afraid to suggest anything. He's still going to die one way or another." Insert happy smile here. Skye is going to kill a god! How.. fun!
*
Shaking her head again, which is certainly a theme today, Thalia frowns. "Morpheus may have been responsible for the dreams, but boy did Alexander do a number on you too, didn't he? Now, I ain't an expert on the giving and taking of fear, but I ain't gettin' no fear from you. That Alexander has some skill, yes he does! At least, I assume he's the reason. I wouldn't expect you came across that naturally! But that might just be good in what's to come."
She frowns deeply, looking at the hand print. "Why didn't you call me when that happened?" Not that she could have been much help, of course. "I…" She lets out a breath slowly, heavily. "I can get some things together to help facilitate a journey such as this. Give me a little time? This is no easy task. Morpheus isn't one who like people to just wander into his territory. No god likes that, really. If we're gonna do this, we gonna do it right, and we're gonna make sure that nobody gets hurt." There's a little pause. "At least, nobody that matters. Not you, not Alexander."
*
Skye gives Thalia the most owlish look possible. "He did what?" Took her fear? No.. fucking.. wonder. It wasn't like she was going to get shit-canned from SHIELD, but never in a day did she ever break glass and walk out of the Directors office with a snappish attitude. "Huh. That asshole." She does smile, then shrugs her shoulders, turning away from Thalia to pull out a chair to take a seat.
"Because I was scared." She states flatly, but now? Not so much. But.. if she was going to get things together? Skye had a few more things to do herself before the time would come for her journey. And the next few days in her state? It wasn't going to be pretty. "Good." She states. "Call me when you're ready."
*