[Fiction] Interesting Dreams

[Long]

Long stood amidst his home and smiled. the guest room had been prepared, Tonight another nova would be coming into his house, and together they would seek the answers to a number of questions. The similarity of events to those that had happened a year and a half ago. In one of his not-so-rare forays into the chatroom, he'd met another nova that worked with dreams. Words had been exchanged, and a mutual interest was found. He nodded and his form began to flow and alter as he took on a much more human guise. It was time to go and meet her.

He wore his overcoat over a loose black shirt and slacks. His long black hair was pulled back in a long braid down his spine and a pair of small reading glasses sat perched on his nose. The only hints at his appearance were his solid blue pupiless eyes and the black stripes on the back of his hands and going down the sides of his neck and face. Beneath his coat, his tail rested, coiled tightly around his waist.

He checked and made sure of his appearance and then disappeared in a flash of blue light. He walked up to the door of the address she'd provided him with and knocked on the door. Ms. Dreamweaver, It's me Long. Do you mind if I come inside?"

[Fae Dreamweaver]

Fae sat in the flickering candlelight, one of the few kinds of lighting that did not cause her painful discomfort, smiling at the darkness. It wasn't that she was that excited about being able to study Long's dreams, although she had to admit it interested her, as since she had received her powers she'd made dreams her job and her life. Much more than that, she was grinning because she was finally going to be able to taste a nova's dreams. Like an experienced wine taster about to open a decades old bottle, her mind was already running through all the possibilities of how it would feel that she could imagine, while knowing it was most surely going to be much more.

She'd ask him, of course. It's not like she just took things from people. She explained the conditions, and then did them what was almost a favor, as cheap as she offered her services, and if she got some pleasure out of it on the side, well.. it was important to like your job, wasn't it?

The knock broke her concentration, and she stood up and walked towards the door. She opened it and smiled at the man standing there. She was dressed in a black dress that hugged her lithe figure in all the right places, and wavily disappeared into the darkness about her feet. The skin that it reveals is more than deathly pale, it's so devoid of colour it seems to adopt the flickering orange of the candlelight as its own. He hair is equally bleached, and her eyes are either purple or red, depending on how the light hits them. Nevertheless, she is an image of beauty, although its the airy, ethereal, dreamy kind of beauty that you are afraid will disappear if you try and look at it too closely. In fact, Fae seems to be only half there, casting a faint shadow and making almost no sound as she walks, as if she wasn't stepping on the ground.

"Do come in," she says, smiling, and moves aside to let him pass, closing the door behind him and then helping to take his coat off, hanging it on a coat hanger artfully shaped to look like a tree, grown that way. In fact, as he sees when his eyes adjust to the faint light of the dozen candles, all the objects in the crowded living room, some of them piled one on top of another in corners, seem to be works of art, seemingly antiques of various time periods and stiles. The whole collection piled together with little rhyme or reason you can decipher is rather jarring, and you get the impression this room acts many times more as a shop or showcase than a place to live in.

"Have a seat," she says, waving towards a sofa that, while comfortable-looking, stands out as being surprisingly utalitarian, "I'll get ourselves something to drink. Do you fancy tea, Mr. Long?"

[Long]

Long nodded to his host and smiled. Things would be interesting he assured himself. "Yes please, tea would be nice."

Long makes his way to the sofa and sits down, only then does his tail unfurl from his waist. "Interesting decor you have here, Ms. Dreamweaver."

As he waits for his hostess to return his mind races at just what he's contemplating allowing this nova to do. Entering his mind through his dreams was something he'd had a bad experience with, and letting a total stranger in would be foolish. Perhaps over tea, his own worries about this could be dealt with."

[Fae Dreamweaver]

Fae walked through a doorway, something which first required her to maneuver past various pieces of furniture stacked with boxes. She looked rather used to this, and doesn't even come close to knocking over any of the valuables placed often precariously on top of any available surface.

"Sorry about the mess, Mr. Long," she kept on talking from the other room which, in the silence that dominated the flat, didn't even require that she raised her voice, "I trade in antiques, you see, but I recently had a..." she pauses for a moment, and the next words are said sadly, in contrast to her previous tone of neutral politeness, "falling out with my partner, and a lot of the stock is here until I can find someone with a shop. I do hope it doesn't make you too uncomfortable."

[Long]

Long smiles and nods. "Not at all. It reminds me of certain rooms of my old home. I am something of a collector myself, unfortunately just about everything was destroyed in the fire."

Long takes the offered tea from his host and waits for her to sit before he continues on. Almost as an afterthought he checks his various mental defenses and ensures his secrets are safe for the moment.

"I am sorry to hear about the end of your partnership. It is always sad to see those who you trust leave."

[Fae Dreamweaver]

"A fire? Such a pity, indeed, such a wasteful way to lose things. Just goes to show nothing really lasts, doesn't it?" she continues the simple conversation as she returns with a teapot and two cups, obviously from a set; nice floral designs, very art deco.

As she's pouring the tea, a dark and strongly fragrant blend, the comment on her partner receives a dry "hm" as an answer and a suggestion to drop the subject.

She sits down opposite to Long and smiles. "Well, however enjoyable a little chit-chat can be, we cannot dodge business all evening. You'll have to explain a bit about what you want and how to go about it."

[Long]

I've often heard that dreams are windows to our true selves. Frankly the dreams I've had as of late have been disturbing to me. If they truly are windows into the truth of who I am, then they need to be adressed and confronted." You spoke of being able to see another's dreams, and perhaps a second opinion is in order."

He carefully holds the cup in his hands as he continues. "As to why I'd let a stranger enter and see my dreams, I can't explain it. Let's simply call it my desire to meet other novas and my curiosity at how your abilities work."

[Fae Dreamweaver]

"I can see the dreams people are having, or have had, simply by looking into their eyes, and then I can send that person into any dream they want, but fully rational and conscious," she explains, in the same conversational tone, "people have asked me to let them relive fantasies, or stand up to nightmares. Of course," and here she pauses to sip her tea, "you have to let me into your mind for this, and I understand you might be apprehensive. Be assured that everything I see will be kept strictly confidential."

[Long]

"I knew there was a catch in this somewhere." His voice darkens, but maintains some humor in his tone.

"My mind is full of secrets and dark deeds, Things only a few know,and frankly things that frighten most who know them. My life as an elite wasn't what any would call pleasant, far from it."

He looks into her eyes and smiles. "Are you sure that you're willing to learn about so much of it, to see what I was?"

"Everything from my past has bearing on this dream, for it is a dream that touches upon all my sins, all my failings."

[Fae Dreamweaver]

Fae smiles, grinning inside as she drinks from the porcelain cup. "Don't worry, I can assure you I've seen my share of disturbing secrets and dark nightmares dwelling in the hearts and minds of men. I will be... strictly professional, I assure you."

[Long]

Long nodded and his eyes closed and then opened as a small hole was made in his considerable mental defenses. "Very well, I'm ready." His body became perfectly still as He literally put himself to sleep. Inside his mind the walls of panels seem to go dim and fall away from view. His mind seemed to go blank and then the landscape of his mind began to take on a new shape . As the dream began Long's body remained totally still, even his tail. Fae would see the dream from the same point of view he had.

It had once been Tokyo. Now it was simply a blasted landscape as far as any eye could see. The air rippled in the heat, visibly charged with plasma fire. Only one living thing remained, at the center of it all. Bits and pieces of debris descended to earth, all of it blown away when he snapped.

Deep inside a doorway that had been sealed was opened. The ominous sounds of heavy metallic footfalls echoed through the complex. Whatever it was had to be at least as big as him. He could hear its slow methodical tread, the scrape and click as claws dug into the wooden floors, the cutting passage of air as a tail lashed about behind it. He could smell the blood, he could hear the cries for help, for mercy. Yet there was little he could do. Rage consumed him, and the faceless innocents fell like wheat before the reaper's scythe.

He stood over a mountain of corpses, all of them novas. Some dated back to the first days he waged war for money. Some were fellow terats who had crossed him. All were bloody, mutilated corpses, those who still had their face were locked in unending death screams. far to many were missing their forehead and eyes, and He could still remember the sweet tangy taste as he consumed the still working node of the fallen nova. He felt the adrenaline rush, the surge of empowerment, and only just barely avoided being consumed by the lust for more.

His claws dripped with blood, familiar blood. His oldest friend was strewn about the room, their old score had finally been settled. Of the young pink-haired nova he'd saved some time before, only a blackened scorch mark remained. Twin pools of molten metal, One titanium, the other copper, were several meters off. A partially metallic red-headed female was leaned against the wall, the entire front part of her body missing. A pair of blue tinted legs were all that remained of his sister's suitor, and of his sister, only ash. Golden feathers were strewn about the place, while one of the wings which they'd been attached to laid just to his left, next to a pair of argent spheres. Just to his right a pair of children lay, a small pool of blood forming uniting them in death. In front of him, totally stripped of her power and ability to resist was his wife. Nimble claws peeled away the star-tinted skin revealing muscles and flesh beneath. He worked slowly but not so slow as to allow her to gain any power back. There was a sound unlike anything ever heard. A deep rolling laugh echoes through the home as her eyes flutter open. "This is all for you, aren't you happy you pushed me? That I gave up what humanity I had? I did this all for you. I thought you'd be pleased." Her eyes closed and blood geysered from her chest as a very human looking heart was removed and held to the light.

Through black cell bars he watches thousands die. He hears his voice, full of rage and hate, reciting the names of his attacks as energy coalesces in his fists and then bursts forth. The land is washed in blue and gold light, and just like that a city vanishes. Above the madness a pair of glowing emerald eyes look on, slowly the view pulls back revealing pearly white fangs and eventually the full white and black face of Shen-Khan, his mouth open in terrifying laughter.

He looks into a mirror, and sees his reflection. Tawny fur is now ghostly white. Once blue eyes are now a baleful green. Bolts of green plasma discharge shimmer and traverse his muscled body. Black talons permanently tip his hands, and time itself seems to fear him. Hatred and rage burn in his eyes, but the most disturbing thing, what shatters the mirror itself sending shards flying, is the utter lack of regret. A piece reflects the glowing green eye one final time and one last thing can be seen, sheer unmitigated joy, the essence of happiness.

The dream fades to black and the various panels in his mind come back online. Just behind Fae the embodiment of Long's consciousness materializes. "Half a dozen different ways I become a monster, half a dozen different ways I lose everything I hold dear, by my own hand."