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Alex has been gone a week. A week in this world, at any rate. As anyone who is anyone who knows anything about dreams knows though, time doesn't exactly follow the same rules there as it does here. For every day that passes in this world, twenty could pass in the dreamworld. So a week here? Alex has been trapped for five months. In who knows what kind of hell Morpheus and the other dream gods have concocted for him. His mind is full of enough horrors to populate it with monsters a million times over. So by the time Skye and Thalia get a plan together.. well, he'll be in a bit of a state, no doubt.
Morpheus' discussion with Thalia had seemed almost teasing, almost daring her to try to convince Skye to do the unthinkable to attempt a rescue. Surely he knows the girl well enough, through her dreams, as he knows everyone, but he made the suggestion all the same. And he knows that Skye hasn't exactly been herself recently, thanks to Alexander's intervention. There isn't much that isn't revealed through a person's dreams, and Morpheus is privy to as many as he likes. Skye holds the key, she only needs to put it in the right lock to open the door. Whether or not she, or Thalia, would be able to decipher the riddle is up to them. And Morpheus made it clear that he is happy to hold Alex in his dream prison for as long as it takes, whether or not the Muse and the Inhuman take it on themselves to free him. But getting into his dream will prove the easy part. Getting out again is another story entirely.
*
"But in your dreams, whatever they be, dream a little dream of me." The Muse sings softly to herself as she approaches the door to Skye and Alexander's apartment. She winces. "Zeus dang it! Morpheus is terrible! Kidnapping Alexander and then planting that song in my head? Next thing I know, when we rescue Alex, he'll demand that I stay behind instead!" She scoffs lightly.
She raises a fist and knocks on the door, to the rhythm of 'Dream a Little Dream of Me'. She called ahead to make sure that she was expected, and that Skye would be home.
*
Oh yes, Thalia was expected, so was SHIELD. So far no one knew that she was the one who let the Hulk out, and good. It'll give her enough time to pack. But once she opens the door for Aunt Thalia, she'd see the many dufflebags that riddle the floor. It was clear that it was for Alexander and herself, mostly things that would be put into storage, for there were smaller go-bags right in front of them. With the Grasscutter upon her back, she turns and begins to walk closer into the apartment, a bag of M&M's was the first thing shoved into a paper bag. And a bottle of half-drunk tequila. Granted, they don't mix, but.. yeah. They have to get the hell out of dodge.
"Find anything?" Yup. Skye was still fucked up.
*
Just after Skye opens the door, another man appears in her apartment. Older, at least by his appearance, than either Skye or Thalia; well into his old age, perhaps 70? 80 even? Old. Super old. "Get in here, Thalia, and let's get on with it. The girl's had her fear driven from her heart? Perhaps that is for the best," he moves slowly, due to age, toward both women, a smile only half-heartedly planted on his lips. "I can see why young Phobos has taken up with you, Miss," he says, his tone just this side of lecherous as he addresses Skye, and then turns his attention to Thalia. "You spoke with Morpheus, did you not? He spoke of a key? And a door? Do you know what to make of that? Both are here already, thankfully. But it's up to the mortal to use them," he says with a defiant, somewhat contemptuous nod.
*
"Going somewhere?" Thalia asks, an eyebrow quirked, as she looks around. "You've packed up good here. But I don't know what good moving'll do ya unless ya can get Alex outta that dream world." She sighs and nods to the question. "Oh, I've found something, all right. Found something real good. And it ain't something you're gonna like."
Closing the door behind her, she raises both eyebrows now, crossing her arms as she turns to look toward the source of the voice. "Well, well, well. If it ain't our 'old' friend of the healing arts." A smile crosses her face. "Skye, meet Asclepius. He's the god of Medicine." She explains. Clucking her tongue, she nods to the old man. "Oh, I spoke with Morpheus all right. I figure the door has to be Skye, doesn't it? It's her shared dream with the young Phobos that she has to enter." There's a glance to Skye as she says that. "Which, of course, means you're right when you say it's probably for the best that she has her fear driven from her. For what's to come next, fear would be a detriment."
She chuckles softly. "Rubbing you the wrong way that it has to be a mortal that does most of the work, isn't it? I mean, it is a shame that it can't be me, or another one of us, I suppose. Though it's the least I can do to try to enter the dream, too. There has to be a way for me to do that."
*
"Yeah. Soon as I get Alex back, we're leaving the place. Everything has been wiped down, no traces or anything of where we're going. And if need be, we're probably going to crash at your place with a few people in tow." She didn't say Bruce Banner, but goddamn it, it just MAY happen. But the man? The man who appears out of nowhere was regarded with a flat stare. Very flat. Even as he addresses her as he does. She says nothing, but continues to angrily shove the many packs of easily stored food into the bag, which was soon thumped down upon the floor.
Among the conversation, she stayed quiet, moving around the apartment, checking closets to make sure that everything was fit as a fiddle. Until Thalia mentions that she wishes she could go? There was a slight frown given.
"She's going. I'm not doing this without her." In other words, Skye was asshole enough in that moment to believe that Thalia would serve as a perfect distraction.
*
Asclepius laughs, a quiet chortle that only a man of his advanced years could produce. "Of course," he says and walks toward Skye again. He lifts his cane (he walks with a cane, you see), and levels it right at Skye's chest. "The door. Where you keep your lover, always." And then he glances around the room, before settling on the sword at Skye's back, lifting the cane even higher, almost hitting Skye in the face with it in fact, as he points his cane at it. "The key. Of course the key the son of War's soul would be a weapon," he mutters. "Put one into the other, in the most literal sense you can imagine, my dears, and you may walk into his dream." It's almost as if the old man has some experience here. "Of course, Thalia, you will be able to accompany.. hold the blade with her as she does the deed. I will remain here to mind your mortal selves," he says. "And to keep you from expiring completely," he says with far too much humour in his voice to Skye.
*
"Ares and his line are nothing if not obvious, at times, in the metaphors that pertain to them." Thalia rolls her eyes. "It will be good to know that you are here keeping an eye on us…on her, nephew." Yes, the young looking Muse called the old looking god her nephew!
"So," Thalia turns her attention straight to Skye. "Are you ready for the two of us to plunge that sword into your heart?" She laughs, though there's an unusual lack of humour to her laugh. "I never figured I'd say those words. I'd say that it's okay to be afraid, but Alex already took care of that for us, didn't he?" She asks as she walks to Skye's side and places a hand upon the hilt of the sword upon her back. "Shall we?"
*
Skye looks down as the cane was pointed to her chest, then ducking ever so slightly as the cane is lifted to point near the sword. Her eyes lift up, her hand soon reaching upright to withdraw it from it's sheath, staring at it conspiciously. "So you're saying.." Yup. She has to stick the goddamned sword in her heart.
If Skye were actually afraid, she'd be shitting herself. Nothing says committing seppuku is supposed to happen in relationships! Oh, Alexander is going to pay for th.. no. Morpheus first. Then Alexander! As Thalia reaches out for the sword, Skye reaches over to grasp her wrist, joining hands upon the hilt with her as she takes a slight step away from the bags. NO need to bleed all over them, they're going to have a mess to clean up afterwards.
Even still, her grip tightens around Thalia's fingers, both held upon the hilt, the sword carefully manuvered as the slow rumbling of the apartment picks up. Glasses clink against each other.. little dust trails fall from the ceiling, and with a slight.. sardonic grin, Skye casts a glance towards the old man first.
"You touch me in a gross way while we're down here dead I'll open an unbrella up your ass."
And perhaps those were and would be the last and final words of Daisy Skye Cory Sutter-Johnson, for she wastes no time in shoving the sword straight through her chest.. right into her beating heart..
*
As the sword pierces Skye's skin, muscle, and into her heart, blood seeps from the wound coating the blade, staining it dark red, beyond its surface. Reality fades away for Skye and Thalia, as one perishes and the other follows her through the veil into the world of dreams.
The field. The tree with the door. Skye would remember it well. But the sky here is dark, and not the dark of night, but of menacing clouds. Rain falls around the two, and rumbling in the distance not unlike that which had been heard in the apartment before the deed was done. But this time, Skye is herself. Fully, completely. No haze of memory, no confusion. Alex is here somewhere, she needs only to find him. The door is probably a good place to start.
*
Eyes gaze about the field. Thalia takes a deep breath in and glances toward Skye. "How are you feeling?" She asks of the young woman. It seems a logical question, considering. Slowly, steps take her toward the tree with the door. "Does any of this seem familiar?" She asks slowly, curious about the surroundings.
*
It was odd. There was a lack of adrenaline when she did it, when she killed herself to save Alex. It was a pinch, a hot pinch that ended with nothing at all. No sensation of floating, not even the sound of her screams. Nothing, until she woke up here. And it was familiar. Skye had an uncanny knack of remembering her dreams, even with a little frown she expected a child to appear within her arms. But it was nothing.
"I feel fine." She answers honestly. "But we need to hurry up and get him back. I expect to have SHIELD busting down our door in two hours." She looks at her hands then, and begins to approach the door right behind Thalia. "Yeah, it's familiar. And since it's a dream, we don't have to take the stairs at each step. I'm going to fly." Yes, the stairs seemed so, so long… "We went all the way to the top, and when we opened the door, an older version of me was there with no eyes. There were children at the table eating human guts and drinking iced blood.." She smirks a little. "..I had pancakes though."
*
As they approach the door, it opens, and inside, the same empty interior of the tree. The lights are on this time though. And the stairs, while they are just as menacing as before, are unnecessary. Skye has determined that they will fly. And fly they will. It's her dream, as much as Alex' after all. But as the pair lift into the air, the swarm of winged creatures appear from the floor. They're not insects this time though, but people. Tiny, three-inch tall people. With wings, in place of arms. Fairies? No, more like tiny harpies. With fangs. They attack both women, latching on with wings, taloned feet, and fangs sinking into their flesh. And a horrible noise, shreiking like a banshee as they swarm and try to pull Skye and Thalia back down to the ground. Above, a shadowy figure watches, looming. He knows this will not stop them, but weaken them, perhaps, and earn more time.
*
"Well, you just leave SHIELD to me, young one…if they become a concern. But we've got other things we've got to deal with at the moment." Thalia nods as they begin to fly upwards. A heavy sigh emits from her as the tiny winged things start attacking them. "Enough!" She kicks and swats at them. "We don't got no time for this! Leave us be, or you'll all regret it! Don't make me come give y'all a stern talking to after I've dealt with saving the sun of Ares!"
*
"Fair enough." Well, that is one slight score settled, now for the next one. The next one with the tiny little demon things biting at their skin. Skye bats and swats them down, kicking all the while, her gaze lifting up towards the dark figure as she lets out a little hollar. "You won't stop us!" She calls out, both hands raising towards the figure.. a pulse of damaging vibration shooting out straight from her palms and up towards the figure who lingers.
*
The shadowy figure above vanishes before the pulse of seismic force could reach him. Him? Probably. Shadowy figures are usually hims. The tiny harpies continue their assault on the two women, biting and clawing at their skin while they continue to try to drag them down. And while they're tiny, they gang up and use their numbers to their advantage. And there doesn't seem to be and end to them in sight; so many it actually becomes difficult to see through the swarm. Better do something about them quick. If you die in a dream.. well, you're out. And the key might not work a second time.
*
Skye
*
It was definitely a struggle; minute by minute, Skye bats and beats down the swarm of the little harpies, grabbing one off, tossing it against the wall, sweeping her foot against the sea of them to try to get them to stop. While she was definitely feeling the first inklings of fear touching her psyche, she draws back and lets out a scream, the scream that shakes the base of the tree and attempts to rattle the harpies until there was nothing left of them but their innards turned outward.
That's to say what would happen with Thalia, Skye's youthful abandon could have possibly tossed her through the wall, but at this point, there was a sense of urgency to get to Alex and get out alive, while she was still brave to!
*
Thalia disappears. Whether she was ejected from the dream, or simply taken to another construct within it is anyone's guess. Nonetheless, while Skye attempts to bat the harpies away, they redouble their efforts to stop her, but that scream effectively ends their swarm; tiny screams echo throughout the cavern as they vibrate and invert, their viscera spraying around to splatter against the walls. And then it is silent. The ascent is quick, and through that door at the top of the staircase, instead of a representation of the apartment they share, this time opens to the inside of a dimly lit tunnel, long and narrow, perhaps only three or four person-widths. Cold pervades the air here, and as soon as Skye enters, a rush of wind blows into her face. The sword at her back vibrates quietly, and in the distance at the other end, howls of pain and anguish, which she would no doubt recognize as Alex' own voice, are faint but audible.
*
"Alex!" Skye nearly screams out, ignoring the vibrating at her back for now. She stumbles forward, starting off her run in a brief crawl, her feet pushing her forward as she lurches into a break neck speed, yet careful to not hurt herself as she passes. "Alex.. I'm coming!" She was becoming more and more frightful, twisting this way and that, her hand reaching back to snatch out the sword from it's sheath in preparation for another attack in coming!
*
The tunnel's length is immaterial; it's a metaphor, of some kind, but let's not labour over it. Alex is on the other end, in pain. Skye runs for several seconds uninterrupted, until figures emerge from the darkness ahead. Many figures, blocking the path. As she nears them, and they approach her at the same pace, it becomes clear what they are, or at least what they represent. The look like Alex, but not. They wear his face, but they are monstrous versions of the God of Fear. Bulging eyes, mouths that are simply too wide. And teeth; jaws lined with hundreds of sharp, long fangs. Snake-like tongues flick out into the air toward Skye as they swarm toward her, clawed hands grasping out to take hold of her, and jaws gaping open, the intent there pretty obvious.
*
She saw that one coming, the figures. The first upward swipe catches the demonic Alexander right in between the legs, splitting him from balls to the tops of his throat, snapping out from beneath his chin with a roundhouse kick to send him flying into the next. The blade was twirled within her right hand, the blunt edge sticking one within the eye, jabbed back to stab into the chest of another, ripped free with two winding and wild twirls through the next.
It would have amazed her, how she was able to handle the Grasscutter, she could probably even stand to stop and kiss the blade to thank it, but no time! For a hand was already flying, a disconnected knee goes this way.. she may have lopped a nose off from one and did something.. or someone lose an ear?!
*
The monstrous versions of Alex fall left and right, under Skye's expert use of the blade. And it's not like they're mindless zombies; quick and nimble as Alex ever was, the dodge and weave to avoid the edge of the katana, but Skye outmatches them. Each time she swings Grasscutter, remove a head, an arm, or a nose, blood sprays and the creatures die, agonizing screams filling the air as the empowered weapon sears through their flesh and bone. Slowly but surely, Skye works her way forward leaving piles of mangled bodies in her wake. As she nears the end of the tunnel, Alex' screams become louder, until the rush of Alex-like creatures slows, and Skye decapitates the last.
Alex stands at the end of the tunnel naked, a pale, gaunt vision of himself. Emaciated and weak, with sunken eyes and a forlorn, pained expression on his face, he looks up to Skye as she approaches, and backs away from her, up against the wall. Afraid. Terrified, in fact. "No. No no no no no… you're not real.. you're not here. You can't be. I can't see you. I CAN'T SEE YOU." And then he reaches for his eyes, and digs his fingers into them, a spurt of blood erupting from each as he tears them from their sockets and throws them forward with a howl of pain. As he does, it becomes clear that this isn't the first time, as the ground is littered with them. Eyes. Alex's eyes. When she looks at him again, Skye would see his whole body torn apart and re-assembled, scars and stitches covering more of his skin than his own flesh. "They'll come back soon.." he whimpers, dropping his head into his bloodied hands; he'd cry, except for, well, no eyes for tears to come from.
*
Skye was a little worse for wear, scratched, bitten and bloody, most of it was not hers but there was a good portion of it that was. She angles the blade downward as she steps into the area, the look of fright clear upon her face as she watches Alex, her hand reaching out towards him as he bottom lip snaps upright and trembles..
.. and then he tears his eyes out, his screams almost sound like hers, the blade soon smacked against her back as she rushes towards him, slipping and sliding through the muck of his eyes that he's ripped out due to his own fright.
"Alex!" She cries out, her hands shaking, attempting to grasp at him and tug him tight. "It's me.. it's really me.. I promise I'm really here. I came to get you out.." She chokes up a little, her hands sliding around his body to press his head against her chest if he didn't pull away. "Listen.. listen.. it's me.. I promise I won't leave you here. I promise!"
*
Alex blinks. When he opens his eyes again, they are whole, returned to their proper place, though the bloodstains remain. "…Skye? It's you?" There's a moment of sanity, at least. He struggles to get to his feet, to stumble toward Skye, but he falls. "You have to go.. you can't stay.. I won't let them get you, too." He looks around somewhat frantically, and his eyes go wide. "Go, Skye. You have to run. GET THE FUCK OUT OF HERE." Alex drops to the ground again, hiding his face, openly weeping. "Please.. just go.. please.. before they.."
The room becomes brighter. From the wall behind Alex, a formerly invisible door opens, and two small children emerge, their mouths stained with blood. "Mother?" One says, the boy, his voice both shrill and hoarse. The girl remains silent. "We knew you would come. We hoped. We prayed. Father said you wouldn't. He said you hated us. He said you couldn't bear to see us, what we were." As far as physical appearance, they are normal-looking enough; one is blonde, like Alex, the other has darker hair, more like Skye, and their features are a blend of both, though the girl looks much like Skye, particularly in her eyes and the shape of her nose. "You can't take him away from us, though.. we won't let you." And then he licks his lips. The girl smiles sweetly. "We love Father," she says, her voice a soothing soprano.
*
"Yes! It's me!" As he stumbles towards her, she tries to catch him, immediately kneeling by his side to try to throw his arm around her shoulder. "Alex, I'm not leaving you here! Now shut up and get your ass up!" If she was trying to run, it was hampered by the shrill sound of the boy, one that makes her heart stop cold. Her lips part, unable to speak as she sees the two.. they were beautiful, but this was a dream, right? It.. it wasn't real..
She was careful, lowering herself and Alex back to the ground as she leaves him curled again, slowly approaching the two children with both of her hands out. She was wary.. but.. "I love him too.." She murmurs quietly, slowly kneeling in front of the children, attempting to put on a brave face that even though now? She was scared shitless.
She tilts her head to the side, slightly coy, her bottom lip trembling as she looks back towards Alex. "I need him. We all do.." She says quietly, turning towards the children again. "..don't you want to be born?" She asks, a sad smile upon her face. "Don't you want to escape this place? It's like a prison here, and your father needs to be strong. When he's at his strongest, that's when you two will be born, right?" She tries to reach out for the girl, the one that looks almost just like her. The boy next. "Let us go, so we can let you go.. okay?"
*
"Father's a monster, you know that, right?" The girl says, looking to her brother as Skye reaches out to them. The boy gives a nod. "A monster. He deserves to be here. It is his prison, not ours. We are free, here. We don't want to be born.. we're monsters too, you know." The boy smiles, and then the girl starts talking again. "We want you both to stay. We won't let you go, Mother. You and Father belong here together. With us. Part of us, as we are part of you." They both smile, showing off their dangerous looking fangs. Not entirely unlike the monsters that Skye had just finished cutting through swaths of to reach this point. "We're so hungry.. Father doesn't have the strength to sustain us any more.. feed us?" They move forward together, closer still to Skye's body, and their fingers dig into her flesh, sharp points drawing blood as they grip.
*
"I know.." Skye says quietly, looking back towards Alex again as she slowly begins to frown. "God help me.." She whispers, turning to watch the children as they begin to dig into her flesh. She lets out a slight cry as she allows it to happen, her hand.. shaking, slowly reaching back to draw the blade from it's sheath, not swinging it around until the pinnacle point.. of.. well.. when they start and begin to eat her flesh. "I'm.. I'm so sorry.." She nearly stammers out, attempting to hold them both against her chest as she drags the sharpest edge of the blade against the back of their necks. And even if it didn't happen, she would still scream out a horrid cry, one that has her slamming the blade into the ground as she calls out..
"I give up! Morpheus! I quit! It's over! Get your ass out here NOW!"
*
There's no answer. Morpheus is busy right now. The children's necks burn where the blade cut into their flesh, and they scream as the skin, muscle, and bone give way to its edge. Soon enough, the two drop lifelessly, headlessly, to the ground, smoldering. Alex moves slightly, turning to face Skye. "You killed them.." he breathes out, a relief rather than an accusation. "I.. couldn't.. tried.. at first.." he drops his face to the ground again, and when he lifts it again, his body starts to fall apart, bit by bit. "Use the sword. End it, Skye. It's the only way I'll.. you'll.. be free.." He manages to turn himself over, and blood starts to sputter from his lips as he speaks. "It's not Morpheus.. it's…" Eyes close, and a last breath escapes his lungs. Quiet now.
*
Skye was broken in half, bloodied, tired.. her chest heaving as she sobs quietly. It was almost like a defeat, but Alex's words pull her out of it, even though she still sobs.. and then witnesses his death. It takes a toll on the girl, the girl who crawls to the floor at his side, dragging the Grasscutter with her as she lays her head against his chest. She takes in a deep inhale of breath, her hands shaking as she pushes herself upright, holding the blade up high into the air as she brings it down right upon and through the bone that marks the middle of his chest..
..and then she cries..
*
The dream falls away, to darkness first, and then Skye finds herself back in the apartment, on the floor. She's naked, but thankfully covered in a towel. Another towel - actually a bunch of them - are wadded up on the floor beside her, covered in blood. The sword is on the table, its blade stained bright red from tip to tang. Beside her is Alexander, also naked, and not covered; Aesclepius is nowhere to be found, nor is Thalia. But at least the two of them are out of that dream. It's quiet, except for the sound of birds singing outside. Alex is breathing, but unconscious. Mission.. accomplished?
*