Disclaimer: I own nothing. Wish I did though.

Summary: Forced into a dream reality, Ryan must find his way out and alive. With his past catching up with him and Eric along for the ride, getting home seems harder by the minute. But what other mysteries must Ryan uncover while in this alternate reality? What exactly is Kendrel's secret and how does it affect Ryan?

Note: It may seem that this chapter jumps around, but my beta and myself couldn't find any other way to set this up. I'll try to promise that it won't jump around like this.

A/N: Here ya go, chapter 1, new fic, finally up.

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Chapter 1

When he left his apartment, Ryan wasn't quite sure where he was headed. His head was littered with thoughts and flooded with emotions. Both Eric and Kendrel had seen his files; worse yet, they had taken his files! They were supposed to be his friends, his few friends, his close friends. Now he couldn't help but feel betrayed.

When Ryan finally brought his mind back to reality, it took him several minutes to figure out where he was. Turning in a quick circle, he deduced that he had turned down an alley on the other side of town. Sighing, Ryan pulled his jacket up around his neck and turned around back towards the street.

A figure stepped out from the shadows towards Ryan, catching the man off-guard. He stumbled back and put his hands out against the brick wall. Ryan was aware of the figure talking, but couldn't understand the words. A hand reached out and Ryan felt himself panic, his body rigid and unmoving. A haze descended on his mind and he felt cold fingers push his eyelids down. He was vaguely away of his body falling to the ground. The last thing he heard were the garbled words before everything stopped.

/\\/ (- -) (- -) (- -) /\\/

Eric frantically turned his head to look down every street, every store front, and every alley searching for Ryan. Several hours had passed since the younger man had left his apartment. Kendrel and Eric had canvassed the mile or so around Ryan's apartment but no clues had been found. They had then decided to split up going in opposite directions. The sun was setting and Eric was quickly losing light to search.

He turned the corner, ready to find another empty alleyway, but stopped as his eyes locked onto a mess of brown hair. Eric pulled out his phone and ran over to Ryan's unconscious body, quickly checking for a pulse.

"Kendrel! I found him, I'm at Riverview and Third!" He didn't give her a chance to respond as he hung up and lifted Ryan into his arms. He was almost surprised at how light Ryan was, but knew that the man didn't eat much to being with. Lately though, he had seemed to be getting worse and Eric was worried at how pale he was.

/\\/ (- -) (- -) (- -) /\\/

Something brushed over Ryan's cheek and he groaned and swatted at it. Turning to his side, he mumbled something about five more minutes. When he felt something brush over his cheek again, he slowly opened his eyes, then blinked when he saw green grass; a field, no less. Sighing, he pushed himself up and looked up and around, disheartened when he didn't recognize his surroundings. The only things Ryan could see was what appeared to be a house in the distance, at least a mile away.

'At least it won't seem that long going down hill,'Ryan thought as he started walking. His mind was still foggy but he thought that the last place he had been was in an alley. He remembered something cold, then nothing. Whoever had been in the alley with him must had taken him to this place. If he had been in the mood, he would be blaming Eric and Kendrel, but he wasn't.

/\\/ (- -) (- -) (- -) /\\/

"He's still breathing, that's a good sign, right?" Eric and Kendrel looked at their friend. Eric had taken Ryan back to his condo, as it was closer. Kendrel had quickly arrived and advised against taking him to the hospital.

"Sure." Kendrel shrugged. "Just means that he's not going to die soon." She turned to meet Eric's shocked look. "What? It's true."

"How can you be so calm about this? We have no idea what happened to him and all you can say is, he won't die soon?" Eric's tone had risen at least an octave. "I can see how much you really care about him," Eric accused, eyes hard.

"And maybe you care too much," Kendrel shot back. She wanted to bring his attention to the fact that the Incubus that got away had appeared to Ryan looking like Eric, not some hot male supermodel. "Was it guilt that drove you to look for him? Knowing that you were why he ran out in the first place?"

"I was not alone in that. I was not the one who stole his folder, I was merely the one who told him about it."

"Do not place all the blame on me!" Kendrel yelled. "I didn't act alone in looking into his files. I'm pretty sure that a police officer looking in National Government files is illegal."

"I'm not a cop anymore," Eric growled out fiercely. "Who are you-" They were both distracted by the sound of breaking glass. They both looked at each other before Kendrel moved out of the room.

Eric watched her disappear into the dark hallway towards the sound then looked back at Ryan and frowned. Kendrel did have some kind of a point. He did feel a little bit guilty about Ryan running off, maybe if he had caught him sooner he wouldn't be lying in Eric's bed. Eric sighed and shook his head. The world, and his mind, was full of what if's and he didn't need to dwell on them anymore, he had done enough of that when he quit the force.

He saw a shadow and turned, thinking that Kendrel had come back, but there was no one there. He narrowed his eyes a little and took a few steps towards the door. He thought he heard her footsteps coming back in the hall, then shivered and quickly turned around when he felt a cold presence behind him. His eyes widened slightly at the figure in front of him, but before he could think on it, a hand reached out and closed his eyelids, whispering foreign words to his ears. Eric felt his body falling but all he saw was darkness.

Once out of sight of Eric and into the hallway, Kendrel narrowed her eyes and they seemed to give off an eerie glow. In the dark, she could easily see the broken glass on the floor and feel the breeze that filtered in from the broken window. She quickly turned when she felt something brush past her. Kendrel slowly walked back towards the bedroom. She thought she saw a shadow move but attributed it to Eric moving around. That was until she heard a thud and saw Eric's arm fall in front of the doorway.

As Kendrel ran in the figure ran out, seemingly through the wall. Kendrel paused then picked up Eric's limp body and slipped him onto the bed next to Ryan. She sighed as she looked at them, both looking identical in expression. She would bet anything that that figure, that thing, that ran out was the same thing that had attacked Ryan. Now she just needed to figure out what was wrong with them, and how to fix it.

/\\/ (- -) (- -) (- -) /\\/

Ryan slowed as he finally approached the house. Although he had been walking for several hours, the sky still remained light outside. He looked at the house up close for the first time and felt his breath hitch. He knew the house, and he knew it well. He had lived in the house for the first thirteen years of his life.

Slowly he walked inside, noticing that everything was the same as the day he had left. His head perked up when he heard a soft thump from upstairs. Quietly he slipped up the stairs, towards his old bedroom. When he poked his head around the corner of the door his eyes widened. "Eric??"

Eric's head sapped up at the voice of Ryan. He thought that he was in the bedroom of a teenage boy. "Ryan? What's going on?'

"Um, I'm not quite sure. How did you get here?

Eric pushed himself up and looked around briefly then back at Ryan. "I'm not sure. I was watching over you, then I felt cold and stiff. Then nothing at all." Ryan made a noise and Eric raised an eyebrow. "What do you know?"

"Not much. I saw someone though, he, or it, touched me before I blacked out." Ryan still felt some pent up anger and betrayal towards the man, and Kendrel, and really did not want to be stuck with him at the moment. He turned and headed back downstairs before Eric could ask him another question.

Eric blinked but followed the younger man, he seemed to know where he was going, and Eric didn't want to get lost. He traveled down the stairs a little slower than Ryan, looking at all the pictures on the walls. He stopped at a family picture the ones who must have lived in this house. Suddenly his eyes widened, he has seen these people before. Eric turned his head to look at Ryan, to see the adult who was once the little boy in the picture.

"Ryan," Eric started tentatively but Ryan didn't turn around to acknowledge him. He walked down a few more stairs then stopped abruptly, his eyes drawn to another picture. "Ryan? Who's this?"

This time Ryan did stop and turn around, eyebrows creased in question. He squinted a little at the picture a little, not seeing the whole thing, but remembering what had been there. "Um, my Aunt, on my mother's side I think. We rarely saw her, when I was younger."

"How many times did you see her, because I think you're missing something important here." Eric was still staring at the picture and Ryan sighed, walking up the stairs to meet him. As Ryan turned his head he stopped and stared at the picture. "You didn't tell me that she was your Aunt."

"Because I didn't know," he answered quietly while they both stared at a picture of Kendrel, with a different hairstyle, standing next to Ryan's pregnant mother. "It's hard to remember someone you don't see. But, she looks exactly the same. She should have aged by now."

"Maybe we should just get out of here. I mean, if we're at your house then we have a long way to go to get back to my place." Eric sighed and walked down the stairs, but stopped when he noticed that Ryan wasn't following.

"This may be my house, but we're not in Boston." Ryan followed and then passed him, but didn't look at him. Eric frowned a little and was about to ask him what was wrong when he bumped into Ryan, who had stopped abruptly. Eric looked up and felt his blood run cold.

Ryan felt all the air leave his body, all his strength start to wane as he gazed at the living room. He started to shake his head and backed up into Eric, who instinctively wrapped an arm around him. He didn't hear the words that Eric whispered to him.

On the floor were the dead corpses of his parents, the same way they had been when he found them twelve years ago. He was suddenly unable to draw in a breath as the scar on his own back started to burn. He let out a yell and felt his knees give, but he didn't fall. He could feel Eric's strong arms holding him up, and could hear him saying something with panic in his voice. Then Ryan found his voice.

"We need to leave, we need to get out of here. Now." He tried to pull away from Eric, but found that he wasn't strong enough, nor could his legs support him fully. "He's here, I can feel him. Please, we need to leave!" Ryan pleaded.

Eric frowned but nodded and helped Ryan turn around so they could leave through the back, away from his parents' bodies. Eric looked up and stopped with Ryan still in his arms. He pulled him to the side slowly and put a silencing finger to his lips.

Ryan looked up and tried to suppress his gasp. A large shadow could be seen walking down the hall towards the duo and Eric tried to hide them in the kitchen behind the pantry. Ryan had started to shake and couldn't find enough air to pull into his lungs.

"Ryan," Eric whispered into his ear. "Ryan, please, calm down. It's going to be okay."

"No, no it's not," Ryan practically cried out. Eric frowned, having never seen his friend like this. "It's him, he's back, it's too late."

Eric cupped Ryan's cheek gently to get Ryan to look at him. "Listen to me, I want you to turn around and run when I say." His eyes flickered over towards the shadow and noted that whoever it was could probably hear their whispers now and would know that they were in the house. "Run, and I'll be right behind you. I swear."

Ryan's eyes widened and he frantically shook his head back and forth. "You can't!" Eric winced when he realized how loud Ryan had actually said that. There was a deep chuckle from behind them and Eric pulled Ryan away and behind him. His breath caught when he saw who the chuckle had come from.