What Dreams May Come

By VeryNonyIdeas

Red. So very red.

"It should not be like this."

Glowing and shimmering, it barely lights the path before me. Growing from the walls. Coming out of the cracks in the stone. Lyrium. But what should be a bright blue is instead a sickening red. Like an infected wound. It appears to move, to pulsate, as if it had a heart. Growing bright with each beat, it suffuses the corridor in its unnatural light. Shadows deepen, creeping in from the edges of my vision. Blurring anything not right in front of me.

"What is that?" The sound comes from everywhere. "Is someone humming?"

It is just at the edge of my hearing. Seeming to be both heard and unheard. A soft tune. One with a sharp edge that rings, and rings, and rings. I can feel its song in my teeth.

"We walked and waked where willows…No." A voice echoes down the hall. It is familiar. The humming mixes within her words. Shaking the cadence of her speech. "Where willows wail, we waited…No. Where willows…? Ugh."

The shuffling of feet, pacing in frustration, grows louder. Off to my left. Closer. The shadow moves against the angry red glow of the lyrium.

"Remember, stupid. They can't take that."

There, in a cell. Pacing and tripping over her words. Sweat soaked hair sticking to her forehead. Clothing frayed and hanging off her slim frame. Her lips, cracked and dry, move restlessly. Trying to remember the words that mean so much to her.

Sera. My Sera.

My steps echo loudly as I approach the bars. "No…this cannot be. Please don't let this be real. Not again." The quiver in my voice betrays my distress.

Startled by the sound of my voice, she turns away from me. Mumbling, caressing the glowing piece of red lyrium that juts out from the cell wall.

"Sera?" The cell door is unlocked. It creaks on its hinges as I enter the cell. "Sera, is that really you?"

"Inky?" Sera warbles softly. Her voice is thick with tears. Wet and hoarse from crying. The humming edge to her words makes the hair on my neck stand on end.

"You left me. Said you'd protect me, then didn't. Left me with those demons." Her nails break as she digs her fingers into the red lyrium's edge, "I cried, you know. Stupid… Used up all my arrows. Made them pay. Those shits. Had to use a blade. Piece of crap, it was. Still, made them regret it. Should have killed me."

Sera chokes back a sob. "…But then it didn't matter. You were still gone. You left me here and it got friggin worse." Something thick and wet drips onto the cell floor, "Always worse." Her laughter has a manic edge to it, different from usual. "That's always the way, innit?"

I cannot help but reach for her. "I am so sorry. I didn't want to leave. I watched you fall to the demons. Just like the others. Dorian…he said we had to go. That if we went back through the rift then none of this would happen. All of this horror would be undone." Fear tightens my throat, strangling my words. Sera stiffens when my hand touches her shoulder. Frail and boney. I can smell the sickness on her, along with old blood.

Just like before.

"He promised me that you would not have had to endure all this. You would be safe. That this wasn't real!"

At that, she whips around in my arms. "Is this not real enough for you!"

It feels like the world dropped out from beneath my feet. My Sera…my strong and beautiful Sera. Bile rises as I choke on a sob. "No, oh god, no."

She is covered in dried, old blood. Flecks of it are scattered across the lower half of her face. Her teeth are stained red. So much red. And her body…it is covered in it. The front of her clothing is shredded from great claws that ripped their way through her.

Images flash before my eyes. A terror demon. Mouth opened unnaturally wide in an ear-piercing screech. Paralyzed with fear. Watching as Sera runs out of arrows. She goes for her knife, screaming right back at the demon. Fast, unbelievably fast. Long sharp fingers digging into Sera's stomach. Her scream turns into gurgling. Red. Always red. It splashes across the stones.

Suddenly, Sera grabs at the front of my jacket, gripping stronger than I expected. She snaps me out of my memories. The memories of a future that didn't happen. That couldn't have happened.

"But I stopped this. You died." I clutch her to me, searching her eyes. Eyes that now glow red. Corrupted. But they are still Sera's eyes, the same ones that have always shown the depths of her feelings for me. "I saw you die! I couldn't save you. And then I went back and stopped it from happening. I stopped it so that I would never have to watch you die again!"

"I didn't die, Inky. You left me like this. Hurting. Dying." Blood seeps from her lips. The wounds start bleeding anew. "But I couldn't die. They wouldn't let me die!" Coughing wetly, her words grow weak. "Not when they could hurt me more."

I catch Sera, holding her close, as her legs give out. Shallow breaths echo in my ears. Tears stream down her face, trailing through the dried blood and dripping off her chin. A shaky blood soaked hand smears crimson as she caresses my cheek. "Not when seeing you again would be enough to kill me."

Sera meets my eyes and I can see that she is fading fast. Her smile, at odds with the blood that trickles from her lips, is as bright as the day we first met. Eyes fluttering closed. Blood flows freely, drenching the front of her body as it presses into mine. Soaking through and onto my skin. Blood, hot and thick. My hands are slick with it and I hold Sera tight in my arms as we sink to the ground.

"Oh god, Sera, sweetheart, please don't go. Please!" I frantically try to stop the flow of blood. It slows to a trickle, but it is not enough. Most of it surrounds us. A puddle soaking into the stones. Feeding the lyrium around us. "Don't do this. Stay with me, please…I can't lose you!" Her lips move, and I pull her close, desperate to hear her words. Anything to give me hope.

In her final sigh, I can hear the words, "Love…you…for always…Inky."

"No…no, no, no, no, no!" She is heavy in my arms. Still. I shake her, begging for this not to be real. "No!" Tears blur my vision. Everything is red. The humming grows louder with my sobs. I can still hear her. Inky. Whispered over and over. My face buried in her chest, clutching her still warm body to me. Inky. "Sera, no, please. Don't go!"

Her nickname for me, Inky, echoes louder, and louder. Coming from all sides. Surrounding me. Shaking the stones. They begin to fall from the ceiling, crumbling from the walls. Crushing me as they collapse in on us. A silent scream. I can't breathe. I can't.

"Inky!" I…I can't figure out where it's coming from. Sera? But she…

"Damn it, Inky. Breathe!'

Wetness hits my cheek. Droplets roll down my face, mingling with my own tears.

"Wake up, you daft tit!"

Warm arms are holding me tight. The body that I cling to radiates heat. I take a gasping breath. I can't smell blood anymore. Just the smell of sweat and dragonthorn ash. Under which is an added hint of vandal aria oil, a scent redolent of honey and cut grass. The same oil frequently used on the bow of a certain archer. "Sera?"

"You arse! Will you friggin open your eyes already!?"

I rub the sleep from my eyes, and look up into the one face that I could never get enough of. Her eyes are brown with worry, and red from crying. Puffy. But free of the corruption I saw in my dream. Sera. And with that one look, my tears begin anew.

"Sera!" I clutch at her tighter and bury my face in her chest.

"What the hell is wrong with you?!" Sera smacks my shoulder, "You scared me half to death! You ass! Kept calling my name and saying stupid scary shite. And you were crying. I couldn't wake you." She holds me close, tight and bruising. "Then you stopped breathing and scared the piss out of me. But now you're awake and breathing but you're still crying. And I don't know what to do." She mumbles into my hair, "It hurts seeing you like this, Inky. Don't want you to cry. Want you to smile."

We hold each other like this for a while. Ignoring our lack of clothes. Just clinging to each other. Content to be in each other's arms. Reassuring each other. The sun creeps along the horizon and will be up soon. The sky is already getting brighter, chasing the shadows from our room.

Her fingers stroke through my hair, just as they had for the past hour. "It was that dream again, wasn't it? That one about that magic shit that didn't happen? The scary one?"

I can only nod in reply. I'm afraid that my words would only bring back tears again.

Sera kisses the top of my head. "You remember what you told me about those shitty dreams, yeah? The ones about you in the Void? And how I was so scared that I'd lose you. Lose what we have. Remember?"

I look up at her and search her eyes. Sera is never this serious. I guess that I must have really scared her. "I remember," my voice still hoarse from crying.

"You said that they were not real. That I wasn't going to lose you. Well, your dream is just as shite as that. I'm right here." She pulls me close and presses me to her chest. "You hear that?" I listen to the beat of her heart, reassuring myself that this is real. That the rest was just a horrible nightmare. "I'm right here. Alive. So let that all go, and live here. With me. The real me."

I pull away from her, just enough to sit up and look at her face. The light from the rising sun illuminates her side, casting the rest in shadow. It glitters off her hair, still tussled from our earlier sleep. Her eyes are back to a cool blue. Calmer. "You're absolutely right."

Sera's smile at those words is as beautiful as ever.

Her cheek is soft and warm in my hand as I lean in for a kiss. Her lips still taste of salt from our earlier crying, but they are still perfect. My next few words are low, lips still caressing, "I'm sorry that I scared you. Is there any way I can make it up to you?"

She grins, devilish and delightful. Never failing to make my heart flutter and stir longing deep within me. "Oh, that's easy. We just have to chase away all those dream baddies. Can't let them hang around that head of yours. Got to get rid of them. And I know just the thing." Her hands wander down my bare back.

I shiver and can't help but smile as I feel her nails lightly trail lower. "Oh, really? You know how to chase off bad dreams?"

"Mmhmm," her purr makes me melt. Sera moves to my neck, kissing up to my ear. Nibbling along the way. "Can't have you thinking about all that shite. So, gunna give you something better to think about." She pushes me down onto the bed. "Me."

The irresistible grin grows brighter, "Just think about me and all the things I'm about to do to you. Including…" Her nimble fingers slide down my chest, across my abdomen…lower and lower, until she reaches the one place I wanted them to go. "Mmm, this."

Any thoughts of my nightmare vanish as Sera's skilled fingers work their magic. They are just as skillful on me as on the string of her bow. Sera's powerful and dexterous fingers, moving, grasping, and never missing their mark. All thoughts focus on the woman above me.

Sera…and her wonderful fingers.

Her mouth continues to nibble my neck and ears. Smiling against my skin with every coo and gasp that I make.

I am strung taught, just like her bow, waiting for release. And she gives it to me. My body quivering beneath her as I come undone. "Sera!"

Moments feel like minutes. Catching my breath, I weakly clutch at her.

Sera grins down as me. "Grand, right?" She pulls me close as I nod affirmatively, still too spent to speak. "Good. Better be." She strokes my thigh, our legs still entwined, as we share soft kisses.

Laying together, the nightmare all but forgotten, we enjoy our closeness. Cuddling under the blanket that Sera had just pulled over us. The sun has risen, and rays of light stream into the room. Pulling the string at the side of the headboard causes the curtains around the bed to be drawn closed. Darkness returns and we start to drift off.

"Sera?"

"Mmm, yeah?"

"Will you recite your poem for me? The one about the willows?"

"What are you on about?"

"Please?"

"Oh, alright. But I expect something good in return later."

I can't resist grinning as I pull her close. "Of course."

"Right. I'll be holding you to that. Don't try to wiggle your way out of it. Unless it's your breeches you're wiggling out of. Then wiggling is fine."

"Sera? The poem?"

"Alright, alright." She kisses the top of my head. "When waked, we walked where willows wail, whose withered windings won't wassail."

I feel myself drifting off to her voice.

"G'night, Inky. I will be here when you wake up. I'll always be here," is the last thing I hear before succumbing to sleep.

End Notes:

This is my first time posting a fanfic and I hope that you enjoyed it. Writing in first person is tricky, but it could not have worked any other way for me. Also, I really tried not to add anything sexy in this, but Sera is all hands and I couldn't stop the story from going there. Hopefully I was able to tone it down enough.

Feel free to let me know what you think!