Dreams are precious things

There was of course a third option. Not that it was viable unless he wanted to walk into the city parading his status as an Otherworlder. Then again, Rykar considered if that would be a good thing to do. To simply let him be found out. Sure, she might never hear from him again but there was also the possibility of coming across each other once again in the future. That was, of course, if he didn't disappear.

Her chin rested on her knee, her fingertips holding her legs close to her chest. Had there ever been an adult like him? She couldn't think of anyone. She cast a glance at Daniel. They'd come to agree to be side by side, in case his nightmares were strong enough to become reality. Then she'd be able to wake him up without having to search for him. Despite that, she'd been unable to fall asleep. All too aware that there was no telling how the world would be when she woke up. Instead, she'd allowed herself to think.

She had to think.

At first it was merely remembering facts from school. Bits and pieces she'd read from her schoolbooks, newspapers, and even on her phone. She thought of the world and the countries within it. The heads of state, she knew some of them but most escaped her grasp. Not that it mattered. So she thought instead of her family. It'd been a while since she'd last spoken to her mother. Two days. Three. They'd never really talked to one another unless it was face to face so she began to worry. Worry that she would some day wake up and realise ten years had gone by without her noticing.

Then she found it funny. Earlier she'd told him to stop thinking, to not worry. She'd surprised herself by proclaiming that if his nightmares arrive she'd be there to wake him up, coming off as much more honourable than intended. Rykar hadn't said that she would do it for him and yet that was what he seemed to have thought. No, it was just for her sake. But she kept quiet, lied down, and listened to him breathe until it seemed as though he was no longer awake. And she sat up, feeling as though there was too much to worry about.

Rykar was never certain as to what she should feel for her ability to worry freely. In a way she was thankful. After all, her sister Caldera had been taken away from their home at five, when it became all too obvious that she was causing the world to change too much. At that time her parents had visited her every weekend, bringing back news and drawings that she'd done. She'd returned two years later, a bright smile across her lips.

Her eyes felt tired. She stretched out her legs and let her head fall back, closing her eyes as she did so. She felt exhausted and was certain that the day would arrive soon. Once she relaxed, her eyes returned to Daniel. In the light of the moon she could see his features. The expression across his forehead was one that seemed to be toeing the line between fear and relief. Rykar wondered if someone like her, who couldn't even bring her dreams to reality, could even grant a blessing. She'd never tried it before, nor cursing. Those were things that just had never occurred to her.

"Have sweet dreams." She whispered, her tone wary of waking him up. "Don't wake me up. I need to sleep."

It was likely that her words meant nothing. That her words had no power in them and were simply a sentence spoken, past, long forgotten.

She had a dream. A blue ribbon moved around her feet, meeting her fingertips and bringing light to where she stood. It was a world that the entire Netherrealm visited when dead, and when asleep. A beautiful city made out of crystal stood in the distance. A silver tower marking it's center and skyline. A tower that served as a home for a person as important as time, space, reality, and life itself. The ribbon moved around her fingertips, she smiled and brought it to her lips. "Can you help me?" She asked. "I can't do this on my own."

The ribbon formed a bow around her pinky finger, bringing a smile to her lips. "Lead me to him then."

It abandoned her finger, moving forward. Opening the pathway between the dreams of others and her own. She began to move.

The world of dreams and death was similar to a plain. It was eternal. The land beneath her feet was dry but brimming with life. Enough life to burst entire forests, jungles, lifeforms from the cracks on the floor. Little by little she moved. The land beneath her feet sinking slowly, falling. A steep fall leading to a pit where several laid. Had she not been paying close attention to the ribbon she would've noticed that in between them all, some were not asleep.

Daniel was amongst the crowd. His dreams surrounding him in the shape of a cloud, obscuring his features. "It doesn't seem to be as bad as before." Rykar said, leaning down to observe the shapes. She watched the ribbon twist around his dream and lifted her finger. "Can you turn into butterflies and enter his dream?" She smiled. "Aimen says butterflies are gentle. I do mean the nice butterflies, not the flesh eating ones." The ribbon twirled around her, almost as if debating whether or not that was something worth doing. "What? Is the price too high?" The ribbon moved as if it were saying no. "What is it then?"

The ribbon shook. Taking a hold of her arm. "I get it." Rykar said, smiling gently and slowly pulling at the creature. "Don't worry about me. It won't be for long, just stay with him for as long as he's here. He's going to need it." The ribbon stretched out before shifting itself into a butterfly, resting on her finger. "That should be easy enough. Don't you think?" The butterfly gave her a worried look. "It's ok. This is just out of impulse. There's nothing else to it." With that the flower left her finger and dissolved into his dream.

She watched him settle. His expression grew gentle and the dreams that she could see were at peace with one another. It was satisfying. She couldn't tell if it was having created a fourth option that caused the feeling or seeing the results. In the grand scheme of things it didn't matter. A feeling that was at times so foreign with herself that it made her feel… different. Her fingers travelled across her lips, realising the curve they'd undertaken was no more than something frightening. It was beyond her. She felt regret building within her chest and allowed herself to lie down, down amongst the people who slept all too peacefully, suffered greatly, or felt neither.

If her grandmother knew of what she had just done then she'd never hear the end of it. A sigh escaped her lips, her eyes focusing instead on the dreams she'd just changed. Butterflies, a meadow. She wished she could tell more but entering a person's dreams was a terrible thing to do. All she could do was watch until she was woken up or grown bored of being asleep.

---------

Rykar made breakfast while feeling as though she could fall at any moment. Her eyes felt exhausted. She hoped to at least be able to catch a few hours of sleep once they were on the road. On the train, on the ferry. She'd get sleep wherever she could so long as it fought away with her exhaustion. In her daze she burnt the eggs, prompting Deanna Li to cry at her feet at the wasted potential and loss of time.

Disappointed Deanna Li took the burnt remains and ate through them. Rykar thought of talking about it as ridiculous but let it go, taking out eggs from the fridge and trying once more. "Are you sure you don't want something more elaborate?" She asked Deanna Li. "If I really try I can try and make something from Fake Countrylandia."

"You won't be able to." Deanna Li said, following it up with a formal, "Respectfully."

Rykar let it go and tried once more to make breakfast. Daniel was there by the time she'd finished. He stood by the door to the entrance, not knowing what to do or how to move. The plate was for her and yet she placed it on the table and offered it to him. She cracked another egg and scrambled it, this time not putting as much care into it as she had the previous two attempts. It wasn't perfect, as the second attempt, nor burnt past the point of recognition, as the first one. Instead, it would simply fill her belly.

"Before we get moving, we should rehearse a few more answers for possible questions." Deanna Li said, folding their arms in front of them. It almost turned what they were doing into something important. "You probably won't get questioned much but if you slip that's it. That's the end. You can't think about it or you're out." Daniel didn't seem all too thrilled with the idea of undergoing another interrogation.

"Can we do it without the bright lamp in my face?" He asked.

"No." Both Rykar and Deanna Li replied.

Rykar felt slightly excited to watch the pretend interrogation. It was something entertaining enough to force her to leave the dishes all alone in the sink for later. They moved to the makeshift studio once breakfast was over. Daniel helped pull out the table and chair while Deanna Li fetched the lamp. From the corner of the room Rykar watched them move, updating her mother with her current location but avoiding certain details. Those would come later. Just as Dextera had done when she'd decided to leave the house, when Caldera presented her fiancé, and when Aimen admitted to having stolen all the chocolate in the house and given it to rats- just to see what that could do. She wasn't sure where her details would be on the scale of funny to seriously bad, but she'd thought it'd be at least at a medium level.

In other words. It would be fine.

Daniel sat on the chair reluctantly, leaning backwards and glancing at Rykar, almost as if they were friends. Rykar was certain that it was only because she'd been constantly around him. Ruby had been the same. A relationship born out of being the only two in a world filled with discomfort. She gave him a smile, turning her eyes to Deanna Li who'd finally set everything in place. "Ready?" Deanna Li asked.

With a sigh he agreed and the lights went out as soon as Deanna Li clapped her hands.

The lamp was turned on, it's bright light slightly blinding Daniel as it was placed in front of him. "Do you have to?" Daniel complained, shielding himself with the back of his hand.

"No hand." Deanna Li replied, sitting down in front of her. "Name?"

Daniel attempted to remove his hand but found the light harsh enough to force him to keep it raised. "Daniel Rodriguez."

"Hand down." Deanna Li stated. "Date of Birth?"

"February 14th."

"Age."

"20."

"Occupation."

Daniel stopped to think, "Performer?"

"Wrong. You're meant to be a clown."

"A clown.. Ok."

"Who do you work for?"

"The Dark Moon Circus?"

"Don't say it as a question. Where were you born?"

"Can't you do something about the light?"

Deanna Li gave out an exasperated sigh.