Following my acceptance to work in this nuthouse, I passed out at some point from what was a lot of stress relief and being awake for longer (reads as how many days?) than I should have. I'm fuzzy on the details due to running face first into my limits, but things seemed to be okay. There was nothing else I could do for the village except wait and see how things turned out, and that's exactly what I planned on doing. And getting some greatly needed rest.
It didn't feel real restful though. I felt like I was awake even though the only thing I remembered was inky blackness. Seemed like I knew I was asleep though. Weird.
Something even weirder then happened to me. Felt like I was being reached inside and lifted up. The whole thing felt strange beyond comparison to anything else I could think of, the only thing that could describe it was that the force felt cool. Not as in cold like ice, but cool like the sea I was always swimming in. That same coolness reminded me of one time that I swam on a summer night. Normally, something like that would be suicide, but the currents were extremely still, the water wasn't freezing and the moon was so bright you didn't even need a lantern. Like my own private paradise.
Now standing in the sceneless dream, that same feeling pulled at my joints and made me move through the darkness. This felt very other worldly, couldn't be anything else for a dream. My dreams often didn't make much sense, though they were often vivid. I guess this…ethereal feeling wasn't too far off the mark. Can't remember the last time I was aware of having a dream though. Almost suspicious really, but it's rather impossible to control a person in their sleep.
That's when I heard the voice:
"You…"
Immediately, I froze. A little freaked out, I looked around myself in a somewhat panicky manner. Fog immediately clouded my vision and felt nervous. The voice came again, and I was able to pick up the smooth tone this time:
"What is your name?"
It was definitely a feminine voice, sounding like it came from another world. The sound was layered, and reverberated like waves crashing into one another. Confused, I thought the answer like I would in a dream:
"Levi."
"A gender neutral name though rather boyish, right?"
That was an… unusual thing to say. But my dreams are usually strange, so this shouldn't be surprising. I guess it's because I've never heard this voice before, but why did it sound somewhat familiar then? *sigh* That's weird dreams for you, I guess… Giving up my logical reason so that I didn't wake up from my not entirely unpleasant dream, I thought:
"Sure, whatever floats your boat."
Amused sounding, the voice replied:
"Hm, hm, using such a corny phrase, and making it cornier since you're from a fishing village? You've got some sense of humor."
Thinking again:
"Why do people say that when I'm serious…?"
Skimming right over my comment, the voice said:
"The fact it's only been three days since you've gotten off the God forsaken boat that practically saved your life makes this situation amusing too."
"Is the only thing you think about corny jokes by any chance?"
"Heavens, no. That's just the corniest thing I've ever heard someone say."
I guess that makes some sense. Still standing in the fog, I stayed quiet for who knows how long until the voice spoke again:
"Would you mind if I asked you some questions?"
It wasn't like anyone would overhear me or something, I slept so deeply I didn't even move an inch while sleeping. Completely relaxed, I answered:
"Sure, whatever."
"Do you say that a lot?"
"*shrugs* Meh, I'm just lazy when I'm sleeping."
"That's understandable. Do you sleep heavily?"
Not even hesitating to answer anymore, I said:
"I don't even twitch when I'm asleep, or so I'm told."
"Snore?"
"What part of 'I don't even twitch' are you not getting?"
"Ah, got ya. Athletics?"
"I'm not particularly strong, but I've learnt good aim from fishing, I'm a strong swimmer and consider myself fairly good at running."
"Why running?"
"It's very difficult to get anywhere on sand and I can run across it for a very long time."
"Anything else about that?"
"I used to haul buckets of live fish across sand almost every day. They liked to bite too."
Finding that last part interesting, the voice said:
"Oooh. Do you bait and gut fish?"
"When you live in a poor fishing village, the motto generally is you do it yourself or you don't get anything."
"That's a wise thing your dad taught you."
The voice's knowledge of that shouldn't have surprised me. If this was a dream that meant the voice was me too, but it felt the need to ask all these silly questions. I ended up asking:
"Why all the silly questions if you know?"
A little angry sounding, the voice retorted:
"I only have a vague impression of you, I need more time to know the fine details and talking helps a lot."
This must have been the weirdest dream I've ever had. My turn to ask questions:
"Why are you asking questions? Not these specifically, just why are asking questions at all?"
I swear I could feel the voice grinning even though I couldn't see it as it replied:
"I think you're someone I want to contract with."
"Again, I ask the why."
"*sigh* A bit stubborn with vagueness are you? That's not good…"
"Nooo. It's just that you seem to be sitting on plenty of info. If I can weasel it out of you just by talking, passing up such a sweet deal doesn't make any sense."
Squealing, it responded strangely:
"Common sense! I've hit the jackpot baby! *snort* Yeah, just go for people in the family they say, it's much better, bah! Inbreeding is what I say."
That… definitely… wasn't me… An image of fist pumping even crossed my mind, good God. There are also some mysteries that shouldn't be solved either:
"I'm not going to even ask where that came from."
Curious, the voice asked:
"Why?"
"Because it sounds like something that would give me an unnecessary headache, maybe injured or worse."
More nonsense came from the voice:
"This is solid gold. Oh, I can't believe how excited I am, it's so out of character!"
"Uhm, maybe you should, er, try relaxing then?"
"Oh. Oh! Right, just give me a second. *squee*"
I sweat dropped and thought:
"Take all the time you need…"
Finally calming down the voice asked:
"Just one more thing I want to ask you. Do you want a boyfriend or something?"
Such an awkward sounding question, but I couldn't see the harm in answering it:
"Um… Not particularly. If I find someone, that's great, but I'm not going to go chasing random people. Besides… The way things are now, I'll probably never find someone. Not if I want a future. So long as I can make the village happy and I can bring them home, I'm fine."
"Yet you're sad, aren't you?"
"…I guess so, but this is the price of responsibility."
"Even if it makes you miserable?"
I basically retorted:
"My first priority is the village. They're the last bit of family I have before I'm utterly alone. I'm the one that signed up for this, and I need to stick with it to the very end."
"You're stubborn, you know that?"
"When I need to be."
Done asking me questions, and thinking, it eventually said:
"A contract, that's what I'm here for. The why is you're fit for the contract. What a contract is, is an agreement like any other contract but with special conditions."
It was confusing that the voice sounded so serious now. But I don't think it was joking. This was the second time it mentioned a contract. If that's really what it's here for then:
"What do I have to do, and what do you want in exchange for my services?"
"Hm? Actually, what I want is a host for my power. In exchange, you are able to use that power based on your mentality."
"What do you get out of this deal?"
A little more serious now, it answered:
"Relief from boredom."
"… I'll believe that."
Seemingly past all the unnecessary questions, it asked:
"So, will you accept the contract?"
Such a strange thing for a dream to ask me. There's no reason to turn it down, but I wondered about a few things:
"That power you mentioned, could it help my family?"
"How so?"
"In any way. For food, money, even paying my debt to this mafia. I'll take anything, anything."
The next phrase made it sound like it had a frown:
"Even if it means inviting sadness unto yourself… *sigh* so be it. There's no way of convincing you out of it, I've seen this far too many times to even try."
I nodded, no need for the run around. Wonder what dream powers I'll get, maybe I can find an idea to help them through this mess. The feeling of something waving goodbye flashed across my mind, when the voice said:
"So, you officially agree?"
"*shrugs* Why not, it's just a dream."
Amused, the voice responded:
"Huu, hu, dreams and reality are closer than you think."
-In the Morning-
Pace's POV
Guh, so hungry from all the running around town. Though it was three days ago, I'm still starving from all the exercise. Some of Luca's lemon pie would be absolutely heavenly, but I haven't been able to find the prude. I asked the maids about it, and they said he had been busy collecting and hiding herbs in his little science room. *sigh* Jolly probably decided to steal some stinky herbs without asking, again. And Luca was getting paranoid, again. Geez, what a vicious cycle. Food would be just the thing to brighten things up-
"PACE!"
Stopping immediately, I turned around to see a rather messy Luca (which hardly anyone ever saw) come sliding to a halt and yelling:
"There's big trouble with the tarocco! Papa wants as many of the major arcane in his office on the double!"
I had to think for a few seconds to absorb the information. For papa to call a meeting so suddenly like this, it must have been extra serious news. Still, work needed to be done:
"Right, just let me get a quick snack-"
Before I could escape, his gloved hand grabbed me by the collar while replying:
"Do try and think of something other than food for a few minutes Pace."
As he was dragging me off, I cried out:
"But I'll miss my third morning snack!"
"And our heads will go missing from our bodies and onto a platter if we don't go!"
Thinking about it, Pace replied:
"Will they taste good?"
Extremely aggravated, Luca all but screamed at the whining Pace:
"Be serious Pace!"
"I am!"
AN/ I hope people like the story (despite lack of reviews...), and feel free to tell me if I can improve it. Read, review, and most importantly, enjoy!
