Note: This is a bit of a short chapter compared to the others, but I didn't want too much going on at once. The next one will definitely be longer.
Tweek had never experienced a dream like this one before. In fact, he was starting to doubt that it was a dream, but he could barely focus on anything over the pain of a splitting headache.
He had been having a fairly decent night's sleep for a change, relieved in the knowledge that Kenny had received his message and was fixing the situation with the mayor. Then all of a sudden he was running as fast as his feet would carry him through the dark, quiet streets of South Park.
It took all of five seconds for him to realise that he was no longer in his own subconscious, but as soon as he registered that he felt the crushing pressure of the headache from hell.
"Shit! Why now?" the person growled through gritted teeth, picking up their pace slightly.
They were beginning to leave the streets and buildings behind now, the light crunch of footsteps on snow just about audible through the pounding in his head as the glow of streetlamps slowly faded into the distance. Tweek was feeling increasingly anxious as the person ran further away from civilisation and their surroundings grew darker and more secluded. He had no idea what this person was running towards or from or if he even wanted to know, but he knew for certain that if they kept going there was a high probability of them ending up lost in the woods and getting hypothermia or attacked by a wild animal or worse.
Tweek wanted to help, he would have at least liked to have taken some of the tension away, but it was pretty clear by now that this person was awake. This was the second time he had ended up in the mind of a fully conscious person and he hoped this wasn't going to become a new thing for him to worry about. It seemed like all he could do when this happened was observe the choices the other person made and pray that he didn't end up witnessing anything too emotionally scarring. He had absolutely no control over his surroundings and he hated it. At least when he was stuck in his house he could still do stuff, but in this situation he was nothing but a useless spectator, a passenger in someone else's journey.
The person finally stopped running a little way into the trees, checking their surroundings briefly before falling to their knees and putting their head in their hands. The pain of the headache suddenly increased and Tweek heard a sharp inhale.
"Come on. This is can't be happening. This is not real."
The voice sounded vaguely familiar, but he couldn't place it, especially not the way it sounded at that moment: tinged with hurt, fear and vulnerability. As if in response, the pain became even more intense, forcing something similar to the sound of a wounded animal out of them. They pressed the heels of their palms to their eyes, repeating their words out loud as if it would make everything go away.
"This is not real. This is not real. This is not real," they whispered.
The pain was beginning to reach unbearable levels and Tweek could feel himself slipping away from this person's subconscious, but oddly enough he found himself desperately wanting to stay longer. He needed to know that this person was going to be ok.
Tweek's powers had made him feel emotions and sensations that weren't his own before, but it had never been as intense as it was the two times that he'd experienced being in someone's head while they were awake. He could still remember how cold and heavy the gun had felt in the kidnapper's hand the day before and the guilt and fear induced reluctance that had been lurking behind his threats.
This time it was the same. He could feel the biting cold of the night air surrounding them. He could feel the uncomfortable sensation of water seeping through the knees of the person's trousers where they were kneeling in the snow. He could feel the raw fear that plagued them and their refusal to accept that something was happening to them. He could feel them desperately trying to fight back against whatever the source of the headache was and whatever was about to happen.
For Tweek this was worse than being in the most terrifying of nightmares because this was real. There was no waking up from it and moving on for the other person. They were actually experiencing this pain and as far as they were aware they were going through it all alone. Tweek wanted to help them more than anything, he didn't want anyone to have to feel like this.
Tweek was trying his best to hold on to his connection with this person, but he'd never done that before and he wasn't exactly sure how to. Usually, he spent most of his time and energy trying to get his abilities to switch off, but right now he felt compelled to stick around and see what was going to happen. Was this person going to be alright? Were they dying? He hoped to any force out there in the universe that was willing to listen that this person wasn't dying.
He continued to fight that all too familiar pulling sensation, trying his best to find something he could concentrate on that would keep him present. The pain was too much for him though and he knew he wouldn't be able to hang on much longer.
A sudden jolt of agonising heat burned through the person's eyes, as if someone had just stabbed them with a white hot poker and Tweek wasn't sure if the scream he heard belonged to the other person or him. He didn't have any time to figure it out though because the next thing he knew, he was sitting bolt upright in his own room, breathing heavily and clutching his blankets in a death grip.
Tweek slowly let go of the blankets and rested his head in his palms as he tried to calm his breathing. His posture stiffened slightly when he felt something wet on his cheeks and pulled his hands away to inspect them. He couldn't stop himself from trembling as he stared down at the shiny trail of liquid smudged across his palm. He'd been crying.
"W-what the f-fuck?" he whispered into the darkness of his empty room.
Note: I've been thinking about this fic a lot because it's my favourite one to plan. I'm thinking the chapters probably won't all be as long as the first few from now on because I want to be able to update as often as I can when I start doing university work again. I can see this ending up being a pretty long fic though to be honest because I have a lot planned for it.