Author's Note: Bleh. School's a bitch. Soccer on top of choir on top of homework is not the least stressful mix. Trigonometry….egh.

Reviewers:

Princess-RainbowRose—Actually, if you watch the commentary by Neil Gaiman (the screenwriter) and Dave McKean, THEY call it a gryphon. I'm just keeping to canon, dear. Hmm. Personally I think he would smell like cotton candy and apple cider.

Dylan—Heh. I never really thought it was THAT funny. XD

Phyllis Joy Wolfe—FIXING NOW! Haha.

Book-manga-freak—GET DEH MOVIE! XD I missed you too! I could have watched mirrormask with you! I brought it with me. Hehe.

HellionKyou—No prob. Thanks for the review!!

Padfootz-luvr—Thanks so much! I've watched the movie over and over again, and I still don't get tired of the amazing imagery in it. It's beautiful. I only wished there was more Valentine. XP

Walking on Air

Chapter 10

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"So, have any of you heard of this 'Lucid Fountain'?" I asked. Valentine shrugged.

"I have," Laverna said. "It came here about thirteen years ago while the cities were still being rebuilt. People have learned to avoid it, though. It has a nasty reputation for disappearances."

"What does it do?" Valentine asked. Laverna lifted a shoulder in a half-shrug.

"There haven't been any witnesses," she replied absently, making it sound quite ominous. Valentine's face jerked towards mine.

"Do you think we might be able to, you know, skirt around this fountain?" he asked, trying to sound hopeful.

"Not if you want to be shish kabob-ed by the Cutlass Bramble bushes," I replied darkly. Valentine grimaced. "Yeah. The first thing I'll do when I see my mum is ask her why she had to make the Land of Shadows so bloody impassable."

"Well, if you think about it, it makes sense. She never expected to have her daughter tramping through this bat-infested place. Blasted artists never consider anything outside their own reality. We normal people have to live with their carelessly-placed 'Lucid Fountains', and brambles and sphinxes on a daily basis. Has Helena ever had to wait in two hours of traffic because of a fish backup? Has she ever dealt with bad-tempered, rejected books pushing her legs out from under her while on a simple stroll down the street? I think not!" His lips were pursed together with contempt, arms crossed.

"You finished?" I asked blankly.

"With what?"

"Your belly-aching. It's rather depressing, you know," I told him, turning back to the map. We were not far from the Fountain now.

"You try living here for a few decades and see how satisfied you are with your life," he muttered.

"Well, if you're so unhappy with your life, that's your fault, not my mother's," I snapped.

"No, I do believe it is her fault. She has kept a leash on me for thirty years," Valentine snarled back. "The most fun I could find was having tea and cakes with that old Mask lady. All because—" He suddenly cut off, his face hard as stone, looking down at the ground, jaw tight with suppressed anger.

I was taken aback. It was sort of obvious he had some sort of vendetta against my mum, but I thought it was more or less one-sided. If what he was saying was true, that meant Mum had purposefully kept Valentine from getting into mischief; which was justifiable. But then, what had he done to deserve that?

"Because—?" I wheedled, a little more harshly then I intended.

"Valentine's known for his restless hands," Laverna cut in with an almost forced smirk. "The Creator probably wished to keep Val here from using his more…illicit talents as to disrupt—"

"I am not a thief!" Valentine growled. "The only reason you insist on that idea is because your tight-arsed high society decrees that anyone who doesn't own a state-owned job is a pickpocket and a rogue. Granted, I'm a shadowy character at best, but I am not a thief."

"You're right, Valentine," Laverna said, her voice unnaturally apologetic. "There are a lot worse things a person can be than a thief." Something dark passed over Valentine's masked face, and it wasn't a bat. But it quickly passed back into his previously light grimace.

"The fact of the matter is that perhaps there is some silver lining to this cloud of Helena's imprisonment," Valentine said cautiously. "I mean, since she can't use her power, I'm free now." My jaw dropped in appalled astonishment.

"You—" I stuttered in anger. "I can't—you know, if I had to choose between your freedom and my mum's, I'd pick Mum's a billion times over! Bloody 'silver lining'…did you see what happened to the City of Light? The Tree of Whispers? People are dead, Valentine, and all you can think about is yourself?" He wouldn't face me as I scolded him. He only winced at every fact I spat at him. "If this is your true character, I wish you were restrained. Your selfishness is disgusting, Valentine. I thought you better than that." I added the last part to myself than anything.

I just realized we had stopped walking. The air itself seemed to have become still; the forest was holding its breath. I looked at Valentine, expecting an unapologetic scoff and argument. My rage drained a bit when I saw him turned slightly away from me (I could only see half of his face), his lips tight and the back of his neck flushed red, his left hand unconsciously rubbing the top of his right arm.

This defeated silence was worse than his infuriating selfish rant. He was angry, but I don't think it was all directed towards me. I snatched a glance at Laverna. She had this sharply condescending look about her mouth as she watched him.

I suddenly felt extremely foolish. He wasn't that selfish, really. Feeling embarrassed, I took a couple steps toward him as to face him. If I could see his eyes, I would think they were avoiding mine. More than usual, anyway.

"That was harsh," I said quietly, my eyes darting to my bare, scratched feet. "I don't have the right to judge you. I'm…" My jaw gave a compulsory clench before I finished. Valentine made a face, finally raising his face enough for me to guess he was looking at mine.

"Please don't," he said.

"But—"

"I don't want to hear it. Skip right to forgetting," he said with a stiff grin. I said nothing, but my conscience itched, whispering to me that I should do something to show that all was fine between us.

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You're just like your mother, I thought sullenly as I let myself fall back a bit to avoid Hermia's presence.

Helena wasn't the best judge of character, either.

Laverna dropped back a little as well, leveling herself with me. I felt the hairs on the back of my neck prick.

What are you doing? she mouthed, her cat eyes looking more sinister than usual.

What? I asked. She gritted her teeth and pointed at Hermia.

She's going to get suspicious, Laverna told me, alliterating with her hands. I shook my head.

Discuss it later, I suggested, picking up the pace a little more as to discourage Laverna from pushing the issue further so close to Hermia.

The flutter of the occasional bat and creak of the twisted trees was all that could be heard for the next few minutes as we made our way deeper into the forest. Suddenly, a strange sort of hum began to vibrate through the air.

"Do you hear that?" I asked. Hermia had her head cocked to the side, a disconcerted look on her face.

"Yeah," she said faintly.

"Are you okay, Hermia?" Laverna asked, putting a hand on her shoulder. Hermia blinked repeatedly, and then seemed to come to her senses. She rubbed the bridge of her nose.

"Yeah, I'm fine," she replied, her voice not as distant now. I looked through the trees in from of us. There was a dark shape in the trees that I could hardly make out, but I could guess that was the source of the humming.

"I don't know about you two, but I'm not receiving the best of ideas about this place," I muttered.

"Let's just get past it as quickly as possible," Hermia said. "We're about half way to the Palace now."

The three of us sped up the pace a bit. My legs were unusually tired. I supposed it was because we had been walking for hours. Strange, though. I had been fine minutes ago.

On either side of us were these sickly green bushes. The leaves were broad, flat, and cruelly sharp. Maybe it was just my imagination, but I could have sworn there were dark splotches on the edges. I hoped it was only rust. In any case, we made sure to give the bushes a wide berth.

As the trees began to thin in front of us, the dark shape grew more distinctive, and the soothing tinkle of water indicated to us that it was, in fact, a fountain.

Hermia's eyes widened with shock as we came into complete view of the Lucid Fountain.

Bodies, a good twenty of them, lay still on the ground surrounding it. The three of us took a simultaneous step back, almost into the Cutlass Brambles.

"Are they…dead?" Hermia managed to breathe, as if afraid to startle whatever had done this. Her cool control that had been slipping ever since the Shadows tried to consume us slipped another couple notches.

"No," Laverna muttered, cautiously kneeling and examining a young girl in a pink-spotted, white mask. "They're asleep. Or in a coma, but I don't think the fountain clocked them over the head."

The strange humming grew louder, and I felt a fog drifting across my senses. The ground suddenly looked very comfortable.

"Cover your ears, now!" Laverna barked, her hands flying to her own. My arms were like lead weights by then, but I was able to pull them up to clamp my hands tightly over my ears. The effect was almost instant; the buzzing hum grew to a barely audible noise, and the fog dissipated.

Then I saw Hermia crumple into a heap at my feet. I swore.

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I felt so tired. My mind seemed to be shutting down, and darkness was creeping across my vision. It had started before Valentine and Laverna began to feel the effects, so I suppose the Fountain's lull was more potent to me.

For a moment I caught a glimpse of places I've always wanted to visit; Australia, the Caribbean, New York City, India. But then it settled on a more familiar place—my parent's circus. I found myself in front of the tent, in my favorite gold and purple leotard. I took a few steps back with care as a hand pulled back the flap. The figure was cast in the shadowy twilight, and the dim spotlights from inside the big top silhouetting him.

"Hello?" I ventured. The person jumped a bit and faced me directly.

"Hermia? What are you doing here? You're supposed to be inside, preparing for your act. You're up in five minutes!"

"Dad?" I exclaimed in surprise as the familiar voice and face of my father came into view. Strange, he reminded me of someone…

"C'mon, we have to find your mother, too. She was here a few minutes ago and just ran off," he said. His brows knitted together in uncharacteristic worry. "She seemed frightened. Do you have any idea what's gotten into her?"

"Dad, Mum's in trouble, she's been—" I stopped. I couldn't remember what had happened, or why she was in trouble.

"Was she with you? Where have you been?" he asked. I opened my mouth to answer, but, strangely, it didn't come to me.

"I…can't remember…wait!" A flash of a face passed through my mind's eye. "Valentine…the two—no, three—of us were looking for something, or someone. Dad, what's going on? I was in one place, and I can't remember how I got here."

"Well, I wouldn't know! You've been running off without telling me or your mother. Come to think of it, I haven't seen you since this morn—" He froze, as if remembering something important. Then, to my horror, he began to flicker and fade.

"Dad, NO!" I yelled, grabbing for his arm. He solidified almost instantly. Blinking furiously with his mouth gaping open, he stared at me. "What the hell just happened?"

"I'm dreaming," he said in a steady, firm voice that didn't match his pale face. "I've had these kinds of dreams before. I'm having a lucid dream."

"Lucid…" My mouth dropped open as a flood of memories hit me. I smacked myself on the forehead for forgetting just as a strange lurch made my surroundings swim. I distantly heard my dad yell and felt a tug as I was sent lurching back into him. I exhaled, trying to calm my racing heart.

"How can you be in my dreams?" he wondered aloud, not looking all that afraid even though his daughter just about flickered out of existence.

"There was…this fountain…I need to get back!" I blurted out. "Mum's been captured, that's why she disappeared this morning. I've been trying to reach her…there's not a hell of a lot of time to explain, Dad, just let me go." Bewildered, he let go of my arm. He was silent for a moment.

"Captured?" he muttered.

"Yes, it's a long story, I'll tell you when I get back with Mum," I said, looking around for something that might indicate this was only a dream and somehow send me back to the Fountain.

"Hermia, we're going to be late," my dad said in a strange sort of voice. I turned around, my eyebrows raised. His expression was slack, and he was staring as if through me instead of at me. I suddenly felt my own body start to relax. My wondering distracted me from whatever I had just been doing. Hmm. What had I been doing…?

"For the act right?" I guessed, my voice suddenly losing its urgency. A quiet, hollow roar began in the back of my mind, like wind through trees. I looked down. Three bright, orange juggling balls lay on the ground.

"Go ahead, dear," my dad said. Something had changed in him. His eyes were dark. "You love to juggle." I stared at him.

"Um…no," I said slowly, the hairs on the back of my neck beginning to prick in warning. "You know I have no talent with that sort of thing…Dad." His brows knitted together.

"No? Are you sure?" he asked, looking frustrated.

"Yes," I said.

"But your mother loves juggling," he mused.

"Dad, are you alright?" I ventured, taking a step toward him.

"Quiet!"

I jumped back. A woman's voice had come from my father's mouth. Not just any woman's voice, however; it sounded exactly like my mother's.

"Mum?" I said without thinking. My 'father' seemed to have caught the mistake and shot me a quick, overly-happy smile that was almost a grimace.

"Come now, Hermia," he insisted in his regular voice, opening the flap of the tent. "The audience wants you. Do you hear them?" Indeed I could; dull roars of applause and people chanting Hermia, Hermia! reached my ears, making my breath catch in anticipation. The smile on his face relaxed. "Go ahead," he coaxed. I took an eager step towards the circus, forgetting everything but my excitement.

Hermia, we'll nev—

I turned to my dad. "What?" I asked.

—Get there in time if you don't wake up!

He stared at me in confusion. He hadn't spoken.

A foreign pressure came onto my arms, like ghost hands clutching them.

"Did you say—?" I started to ask.

C'mon, Hermia, I'm not going to have anyone else to manage if you're gone, too.

Oh, wonderful incentive, Valentine.

You think of something then!

Here, try this…

I clamped my hands over my ears to shut up these phantom hisses.

Hermia! the voice that sounded like my father urged, sounding panicked. Wake up!

Another weird lurch made me sprawl forward onto my stomach. The dull roar had grown louder, accompanied with the disembodied voices. My breath felt like it was being squeezed out of me.

Then, suddenly, everything stopped; except for the hollow roar. I opened my eyes timidly.

I was back in the Land of Shadows with Valentine and Laverna. Laverna was standing over me, hands over her ears. It took me a second to realize that it hadn't been my hands over my ears in that dream; they were Valentine's. He was on his knees in front of me.

"Finally," he breathed (although I couldn't hear him well, I could make out the word), looking like he was about to keel over in exhaustion. "Get up. We need to get out of here now." The two of us stumbled onto our feet, Valentine's hands dislodging from my ears in the process. I replaced them with my own as we rushed out of the clearing as quickly as we could without running into the evil-looking Brambles.

After finding a safe distance between us and the Fountain, we stopped to catch our breath. Valentine was panting, hands on his knees. Even Laverna was shaking a bit from the ordeal.

"So, anyone…have a theory…of whose bloody stupid idea it was…to build a coma-inducing water fountain…in the middle of nowhere?" Valentine hissed between gulps of breath. I exhaled in a sort of hysterical chuckle.

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My lungs burned as if I had inhaled acid instead of oxygen, and looking out from these damn eyeholes had started giving me a bloody migraine.

"Care to explain what happened, Hermia?" Laverna asked, briskly tucking away loose strands of blond hair that had fallen free.

"Your guess is as good as mine," she replied, her eyes still closed as she forced herself into control once more. "But I did see my dad. I was at my family's circus. I think…I was in his dream." Her eyes opened, glancing at me in a sort of wonder. "I had no idea what was going on, really. Everything kind of went in and out, but at some point we both figured out we were only dreaming. Then he started acting odd. He thought I loved juggling and was trying to convince me to go in the tent and perform, for some reason, when he obviously knew I'm a walker. I mean, he had said it when I first saw him. It was like he was someone else." She paused, thinking. "And then I was about to go into the tent, and I thought he said something to me, but I guess it was you. And then I found myself waking up when you stifled the Fountain's hum." Hermia, brows furrowed, stared at me for the second time, with those curious eyes of hers. She seemed to be trying to figure something out.

"What?" I asked sharply, a little annoyed at her scrutiny. Hermia hesitated.

"I know this will sound odd, but you look uncannily like my dad. You…sound exactly like him, too. Younger, yeah, but still…" She waited, as if uncertain of my reaction. I was silent for a good while.

"Really?" I answered, a hard edge coming unwontedly to my voice. "Are you wondering whether or not I am just a carbon copy of your father? Just a reproduction of someone real?"

"Valentine…" Hermia replied in a tired sort of tone, as if she expected this result. "That's not what I'm wondering. The truth is; you look like him for the most part. Save for the mask, of course." She motioned her hand toward my face. I opened my mouth to retort, but she cut me off. "However, I was just commenting on something that has been on my mind for a while now. You may look like him, but your whole personality is totally…different from him. What I was really wondering is who came first, you or him. I mean, you know how the Queen of Shadows is the 'evil twin' of my mum. Well—" Her voice trailed off as she spread her hands in silent explanation of the obvious.

"You think I'm the evil twin of your father," I said shortly. Was it just me, or was she out to get me today? Or…had her dad said something about me that Hermia didn't want to tell me about?

"You have to admit, it's certainly possible," Laverna added, irritatingly amused.

"No, I mean, that's not what I'm trying to get across," Hermia protested. "I just thought it was just peculiar. A theory, you know. Yeah, you're not exactly the fatherly type—" Laverna snorted in mirth. "But that's not saying you're completely evil…"

"Okay, I get it," I said, feeling the frustration this girl had given me earlier resurface. "You think I'm a bad person. That's fine, I'll even agree with you…" I saw Laverna shake her head imploringly behind Hermia. I ignored her. "To each his own and all that; I don't give a flyin' fish what you think. But you hear this, missy: I may be a bad man, but I'm an important one. Don't you forget that." I crossed my arms, fuming as I picked up the pace.

Alright, so it was childish, but that had been the last straw. A man can only be pushed so far. Hell, a part of me was eager to be rid of her so I could finally have time to meself again.

I tried to push it away, but another part of me still felt hurt. That part of me wished desperately Hermia and I weren't on opposing sides, that she could see me in a little nicer light.

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So maybe I have been ragging on Valentine a little too much today. He had a right to be angry at me. I wanted to say sorry, but I knew that he wouldn't take it. What else could I do?

Luckily, my legs were just as long as his, so I was able to keep up with him, keeping a few steps between us. It was as if there was a thick, uncomfortable void in the air around us. I longed to say something, anything, so I could finally get back on the right foot with him.

Then it came to me.

It didn't pain me so much as it had been more of a comfort, but I took off Valentine's robe and silently handed it back to him. He took it without hesitation, but his expression was shocked and full of confused wonder.

"I'm not cold anymore," I said, keeping my expression as neutral as possible. But a sort of gentle pleading found its way in my tone and—to my relief—Valentine seemed to relax as he put on the robe. His pace slowed and his painted, masked face seemed almost happy. He slightly turned his head toward me, and I swore I saw his lips twitch into a small smile.

"Took you long enough," he said in his normal, cocky tone. "I thought I would have to trade those life-saving situations you owed me for a new coat. Those things are bloody expensive, you know. Cost me near an arm and a leg to get it."

"How many years ago? Sixty?" I scoffed, though there was a grin on my face. "That thing's wretched. For such an important man you can't scrape up enough for a new robe?" He tilted his head to the side, bobbed down a bit and shrugged with his fingers spread in silent answer; the sort of quirky way Valentine expressed himself assured me that things had finally relaxed between us.

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Author's Note: Yeah, long chapter, sorry. In case you were wondering what the hell was going on in the whole "Lucid Dream" scene, here's the brief explanation that I can share. The other explanation will come later.

Lucid dreams are, by definition, dreams in which you are fully aware you are dreaming. I don't know how many of you have ever experienced this, but lucid dreaming is really cool, but very hard to maintain without waking up (the fading/flickering) or forgetting (hence Hermia and her father continually "forgetting" what reality was). I'm sorry if the scene was all over the place (come to think of it, so was this entire chapter XP ), I just wanted to get a few points across, as well as stimulate another argument between Hermia and Valentine so he can get his robe back. Heehee.

Also, quickly, what the "Lucid Fountain" does is make the dreams of the sleeping person so real and desirable, they replace it with true reality. I thought that'd be a nice touch to the Dark Lands. It's not necessarily evil, but it's certainly crossing some sort of line. Or, is it a blessing? Hmmmmmmm. Think on that, eh?