This chapter was so hard to write. I don't know why, but it just… didn't want to happen. And then it didn't want to end. I don't know if I'm happy with this, but here you are!
Nightmare time, intensifying…
chapter 4: nightmare time, 2nd period
They are driving through darkness, fast. Gakushuu is trying to think of the situation analytically, but there's cold terror in his heart, and his thoughts are stuck on the same track. He's been kidnapped. His father died. He's been kidnapped. His father died.
His father… died.
No.
That is not real. That cannot be real. His father wouldn't jump off some goddamn bridge just like that. Even if he did, he would surely survive! Why is he so convinced the man died? He thinks of Ren who turned into some stranger, of his father who jumped into a river after that stranger, and… no. Things just don't add up. Nothing about this chain of events makes sense.
He must be dreaming. This is nothing but a nightmare…
The man driving the car laughs.
…nothing but a nightmare.
Gakushuu closes his eyes tightly. Wake up. Wake up. Wake up wake upwakeupwakeup…
Wake up.
His eyes flung open. He is lying on his bed in his own room. A moment he just stares at his ceiling, immensely relieved.
It was just a dream. He should have known that. He checks the time: 4:69.
It's early, but he gets up. Pads to the door of his father's study. Father should be reading the newspapers at this time. He doesn't want to be disturbed. But still…
Gakushuu hesitates.
He has to see his father. See that he's alright.
He raises his fist and knocks softly on the door. "What is it?" his father's voice snaps.
Gakushuu gives a breath of relief. "I'm sorry, father," he says, opening the door. "I just wanted to…" His tongue freezes in mid-sentence.
The man sitting on his father's chair is not his father.
"Good morning, Ga-ku-shuu," the Corinthian grins at him. He is spinning a knife in his hand.
Gakushuu runs. He stumbles down the stairs and speeds to the front door in his pajamas. He flings it open and nearly falls flat on his face when he ends up back in the study where he started from.
"How rude of you," the Corinthian says, still sitting on his father's chair. "Should you not welcome a guest more politely?"
What the hell is this?! Step by step Gakushuu starts backing out of the room. What just happened… is impossible. What is going on? Is he still dreaming? Why doesn't he wake up? He takes one more step back and bumps into someone. For a short moment he feels relief, thinking his father has arrived, but then a hand grasps his throat and slams his back into a wall.
"Perhaps I need to teach you some manners," the Corinthian muses, grinning. Out of the corner of his eye Gakushuu sees the empty chair. What the hell?
The man tightens his grip of his throat, and Gakushuu's martial skills take over. He grasps the man's wrist with one hand and, holding it strongly against himself, at the same time pushes his elbow with his other hand, twisting it. As the man loses his balance and bends forward, Gakushuu brings his leg up and kicks him in the face.
The Corinthian stumbles and Gakushuu leaps free. He tries to run out of the room, but a hand grasps his hair and pulls him back, throwing him to the floor. As he gathers himself up, he sees the man isn't grinning anymore. His sunglasses lie on the floor, broken, and he's pressing a hand against his face, as if in pain, but otherwise he appears to be unharmed.
Damnit, he should have kicked harder.
"Rude little brat," the Corinthian mumbles and looks him in the eye.
Gakushuu draws in a sharp breath that for a moment stays locked in his throat.
Then he screams.
The man has no eyes. In their place, two rows of small, sharp teeth line each empty eye socket.
"Well then, an early reveal," a creaky voice says. It takes Gakushuu a moment to realize it comes from the mouth in the left eye. "Such a rude, lively boy. How delightful it will be…"
"…how sweet," the right eye continues, "when those exquisite eyes of yours pop between my teeth!"
Gakushuu stumbles backward until his back hits the wall. This is a dream. This has to be a dream. A nightmare. Why isn't he waking up?!
"Looks like I got lucky here." The man is grinning again, with three sets of white teeth glistening. "Why don't we find out how much it will take to wake you?" He has the knife in his hand again as he starts walking toward Gakushuu.
Gakushuu stares at him, unable to look away from his eyes, while in the background his mind is trying to figure out what the man meant. How much it will take to wake you? A dream. That settles it, this is just a dream.
He shoots a panicky glance around. Sees the window. If this is only a dream… With one quick leap he is by the window, and – there is no glass, he thinks, and he jumps out through it as the window glass melts away in front of him.
He doesn't get out, though. Instead he crashes on the living room floor.
Damn! Gakushuu jumps to his feet instantly, looks around. The monster apparently didn't follow him? Instead he sees his father sitting in his favorite chair, reading. A moment he feels relieved, then he remembers he is most likely still dreaming. So that can't be his real father, it's probably just a dream.
…but even a dream father would surely help him against a monster, right? Gakushuu rolls his eyes at himself. More like it, a dream father is much more likely to do that. The real one might just sit back and see how he deals with it.
"Father," he says, walking to the man. "There's an intruder in the house."
"Oh? How shameless." Father keeps on reading the book. "What do you plan to do about it, Gakushuu?"
"I…" Gakushuu pauses.
Would any version of his father he dreamed up, that behaves so exactly like the real one, ever address him by his name?
He takes a step back. His father places the book on the table and stands up. Gakushuu is already running the moment the man turns so that his toothed eyes are visible. Even so he is too slow. Hands grasp him from behind and pull him back. He tries his best to struggle against, attempts all those moves his father has taught him, but none work.
"He doesn't address you by your name?" his father's voice says into his ear. "Boy, your family dynamics are reeally messed up. But hey, good news," the tone shifts, and the voice gains again that strange, creaky quality, "you don't have to worry about that anymore, Ga-ku-shuu."
Gakushuu can't see the grin, but he feels it in the nape of his neck.
...
On a blooming meadow, in the shade of lustrous trees, Gakuhou is sitting with his eyes closed, slowly returning to himself.
I have never been teaching anyone before, the incorporeal voice informs him. So I do not know if you're just an excellent student, or if I should stop being a place and start a new career as a teacher.
Gakuhou opens his eyes. "I hope I don't sound prideful," he says (which is something of a lie, he honestly doesn't care), "but I think it's mainly about the former. Though you are a good teacher, too."
It is true. In what feels like just a short moment he has gained a much clearer understanding of the dream world he's in, and how to… not control it, for no mortal can control dreams, but guide, steer, manipulate… and that, he thinks wryly, is something for which he has always had a knack.
"Thank you," he says, standing up. "I'm sure I will find my son in a moment now."
This has been surprisingly pleasant, the voice says. I do not normally do things like this, you understand. Interact with people, that is. But the times are quite extraordinary and… I wonder. Would you mind horribly if I joined you on your quest?
"Joined me? How exactly?" Gakuhou asks with a raised eyebrow.
Excellent question, the voice muses. Now, let's see… maybe like this?
In a blink of an eye everything disappears around him, and he's left floating in complete emptiness.
No, not complete emptiness. Someone is standing in front of him, looking at himself thoughtfully. A portly man, gray-haired, with spectacles and a mustache. He is wearing a green ulster coat and a matching hat, and holds a cane in his hand.
"Hmm. I guess this will do," the man mutters. He waves his arms, stretches his fingers, walks back and forth. "Yes. This will do quite nicely."
"Who are you?" Gakuhou asks.
The man stops from his walking. "You ask good questions." He looks thoughtful. "I need a name. What do you think about Gilbert? I have always liked it. A good, solid name. Gil comes from Germanic gīsil, meaning pledge, and bert is from Germanic as well, -behrt, short form of beraht, meaning bright. Yes." He nods, looking pleased. "A very good name."
"…so it would be your first name? Or last?" Gakuhou asks, a little confused.
"Absolutely!" the man says firmly. "So, oneironaut, shall we be off?"
"Yes," Gakuhou says shortly, giving the man yet one searching look. He is not fully certain whether he trusts this… person, if that is the right word, but overall, a companion who fully understands this world just might be useful.
He takes a step, and at the edge of his vision the nothingness around him shifts. It is slightly disconcerting, and he pauses.
"Is something wrong?" Gilbert asks.
"No…" Gakuhou says slowly. He takes a deep breath. Walk on. Just walk on and keep your thoughts on Gakushuu.
He takes another step, and the emptiness starts shifting again. Yet another, and out of nowhere tall pine trees spring up around him. The next step turns the trees into pillars, and they are in an ancient Greek temple. Next step, and the temple is in the bottom of the ocean – and not Greek but Atlantean, he just knows this. With next step the fishes swimming in front of him turn into colorful birds flying among clouds (they still have scales, though). Next step brings him into the middle of a party where people in samba carnival clothing dance wildly to fast drumming, but it lasts only for a blink of an eye when with next step comes the sudden silence of an empty library.
He feels he is getting closer and struggles to keep that thought from distracting himself. A moment he fears he lost the track, but then he steps into his own living room.
In the middle of which he sees himself holding Gakushuu in a chokehold, a knife in his other hand.
…just what kind of nightmares does his son have?
He takes a step toward the two who haven't yet noticed him, but realizes then how still Gilbert has gone. He glances at his companion and sees a worried look on his face.
"Have care," Gilbert says, very quietly. "The Corinthian… is a nightmare."
"…obviously," Gakuhou mumbles.
Gilbert shakes his head. "A nightmare, the same way I am a dream. One of the Major Arcana. Have care," he repeats.
Gakuhou isn't quite sure if he understands the significance of this, but he knows that Gakushuu needs help, right now. The element of surprise has been lost, though, for the moment he is about to start moving the man – he himself – turns to look at him. And grins.
"Well, look at that. Daddy's here."
"Let go of him," Gakuhou says quietly. He starts walking toward the two.
"Come now," the nightmare says in his voice. "Should he not be able to deal with me by himself?"
Gakuhou is now close enough to see the man's eyes. Disturbing, yes, but something that is mainly meant to frighten children and others faint of heart. No, there is something else about this man… this creature who holds his son, that is much more terrifying to him. His own face stares back at him, apart from the eyes perfect in every detail. Something in that perfection chills him. That face is cold, calculating, cruel… and still, he cannot claim that it would not be him.
One more step, and he understands clearly what he has in front of him, as if someone just whispered it to him: a black mirror, made to reflect everything about itself that humanity will not confront.
This is not the time for self-reflection, Gakuhou thinks, and aims a right hook in the man's chin. His speed takes the nightmare by surprise and he falls back, releasing Gakushuu.
"Do you imagine it is that easy?" the eyes scream at him unison, and suddenly the lights turn off and he feels the floor disappear under his feet.
No, he says in his mind and thinks of a wind that raises him back to the floor and blows away the darkness.
Gakushuu is staring at him open-mouthed.
"Excellent," Gilbert says behind his back.
The Corinthian freezes. "What are you doing here?" he spats out.
"I?" Gilbert asks. "I decided to stretch my legs a little and accompany my first student on his travels." The portly man comes to stand by Gakuhou's side, and he notices that he has drawn a sword stick from his cane.
"Old fool." The nightmare gives him a look that could almost be described as pitying. "You have not been made for fighting."
"Perhaps not!" Gilbert exclaims, slashing the air with his stick. "But should I allow that to stop me? Amateur knight errand, I shall fight for the innocent!"
Briefly Gakuhou wonders whether even his son would qualify under that term. He knows he doesn't.
"Father," Gakushuu says, hesitant. "Is that you?"
"Yes," he confirms, looking at the boy who seems to be fine, if somewhat shaken.
"…but you would say that," the boy mumbles to himself. "Whether or not… I just don't…"
"Listen, Asano-kun. You are dreaming."
"I know, father," the boy says, sounding annoyed. "But I can't seem to wake up! And I'm not sure if I want to try again, I already had one false awakening."
"Hmm. You need better control…"
Gilbert clears his throat.
"Better self-control, I meant," Gakuhou amends. "That is what this is all about. I'm sure we can teach you how to—"
"Are you seriously just having a conversation there?" the nightmare says, somehow glaring at them with the toothed eyes. Gakuhou blinks. Apparently his own self-control is lacking as well, for having found his son he all but forgot about the company they have.
"You… forgot…" the Corinthian breathes. Gakuhou watches with slightly horrified fascination as his face melts away and molds into someone else, contorted with rage. "That's it!" the eyes scream, while the mouth grimaces at them. "You will wake, dreamer, and leave this boy behind to be my toy, and by the time you might finally drag him out I can promise you there is nothing left of his mind!"
Gakuhou is prepared for the attack, or so he thinks, but this time he is the one surprised both by the speed and the strength with which hands grasps him and crush his throat. He stumbles back, his vision blackening. "Father!" he hears a distant shout. Hold on! shouts someone else, and there is a speck of light in the dark, something green, Kyuko, he thinks for a moment, but it is Gilbert who reaches for him and grasps a hold of his hand.
Gakuhou stumbles back into the living room, gasping for breath, and he sees through dim, distorted haze the nightmare dragging Gakushuu away on the other side of the room… the room which appears to be many times larger than normal. Still hovering somewhere near waking he takes one stumbling step after them, but doesn't really move at all.
"Gakushuu!" he screams through sore throat. "Remember you're dreaming!"
And the next moment he sees a horde of redheaded children attack the Corinthian, nearly running the nightmare over.
"Let go of our teacher!" he thinks he hears them shouting.
The Corinthian growls, lashes around not letting go of his hold on Gakushuu, and every kid he hits just puffs out of existence as if they never where there. Suddenly Gakuhou realizes he is moving fast across the room even though he is not walking; Gilbert is dragging him along. The last of the little redheads jumps on the Corinthian's back, covering his eyes with his arms. At the same instant Gakuhou and Gilbert reach them, and Gilbert slashes out with his sword, cutting the nightmare's arm. Gakuhou pulls his son to himself right as the nightmare throws the last redheaded child through a wall out of the room.
A moment they stand there in silence, Gakushuu grasping his father, Gilbert standing between them and the Corinthian with his sword-stick in his hand.
Then Gakuhou looks down at his son. "You dreamed up a bunch of kid Akabanes to defend yourself?" he says flatly. "Should I be worried about your mental health?"
"They were the most fiendish thing I could think of!"
Fiendish, sure. But not strong enough against this one… what would be enough? Gilbert? Their companion does not seem eager to attack, though. In truth, Gakuhou gets a feeling that the man is afraid of the nightmare in front of them – he hides it well, but Gakuhou can sense these things.
The Corinthian is watching them calmly, now in the shape of a white-clad western man, of average height and strong build.
"You really are a bothersome individual," he says thoughtfully, looking at Gakuhou. "Though someone worthy of respect, perhaps – few mortals can function as well in dreams. And your actions, trying to protect your offspring, are just natural… unlike yours, Fiddler's Green." He turns to Gilbert. "What do you imagine you're doing, walking around in the shape of a human? Do you think that simply because our lord is missing, you can now do whatever you please? There are rules that still govern us, and you are breaking them."
Gakuhou shakes his head. "You are one to talk about rules, running around torturing children," he says.
The Corinthian grins. "Oh, but I do simply what I was created to do," he says. "I am fulfilling my purpose here. Unlike some. Leave from here, Fiddler's Green. I do not bother those who rest in your meadows, so don't you come between me and my prey." His grin widens. "Or you might turn into prey yourself. Don't imagine I would not take you down, if you keep on intervening."
Gilbert looks troubled, and yes, also afraid.
"Do as you wish, Gilbert," Gakuhou says calmly. "I thank you for your help, but we can manage on our own now."
Gilbert gives him a look that is clearly doubtful. The nightmare's grin grows tense. "Don't let my respect get to your head, little dreamer. You are not someone who can challenge me."
"Oh?" Gakuhou says, putting into that single syllable all the condescendence he can muster. "Do you imagine you're frightening me with your freaky talking eyes trick? Gilbert called you the Corinthian… you don't look like a native of Corinth, but… isn't that also another word for a rake of the Regency times? Is that all you are?"
There is anger in the nightmare's expression, but also wariness. Gakuhou keeps his face and mind both completely blank as the Corinthian stares at him suspiciously. He might not be able to control a dream, but he can control himself. "Asano-kun," he says, sharply, and his son snaps to attention. "Do you think we need someone else to fight our battles?"
"No, father," the boy says, new focus in his eyes. All fear has disappeared from his countenance. Good. When Gilbert explained to him the workings of the Dreaming, there was one thing he stressed over anything else: the moment you start thinking about how things can go wrong, they just might do that, so… don't. It is not easy to keep yourself from thinking about something, but Gakuhou can do this, and he just has to see to it that Gakushuu won't slip, either.
The Corinthian shifts a little, and something changes in his body language. Is he backing down? Gakuhou doesn't allow himself to react yet. This nightmare… isn't so different from some humans. He is someone who is used to being feared. Used to being the one in control. To him, everyone else is nothing but prey: weaker than him and so of less value…
Gakuhou pauses in his thoughts, feeling vaguely disturbed. The Corinthian smirks.
"Does that sound familiar?" he asks. "Here I thought that I'm not the right kind of a nightmare to haunt you, but I was wrong, wasn't I?"
In the next blink of an eye, Gakuhou is again facing himself.
"That… is disturbing," Gakushuu mutters next to him.
"My darling son," the Corinthian says with Gakuhou's mouth and voice. "Did I ever tell you how precious you are? At least back when…" he looks down and bends to pick something up, "you were still small?"
Gakuhou tries his quell the terror in his heart when he sees this monster holding a tiny toddler Gakushuu in his arms. It's just a dream, he reminds himself. The real one is standing right next to him. It's hard to focus on that thought, though, when the toddler takes one look at the eyes looking down at him and starts crying and squirming, trying to get away.
"What the hell!" Gakushuu exclaims. "Father, that's, is that… that is…"
"It's a dream!" Gakuhou cuts him off, his voice tight. "Nothing but a dream. It's not real. Ignore it."
Gakushuu isn't listening to him. "We need to do something! Father, you don't know… that creature," his mouth twists in rage, "that thing is going to eat his eyes! My eyes! I won't let him!"
And Gakushuu rushes forward, suddenly accompanied with an army of kid Akabanes. Who, some corner of Gakuhou's brain that still can analytically observe what is happening, are armed with wasabi tubes.
"Why do they have to be children?" he asks no one in particular.
The scene in front of him is turning into pure chaos. Gakushuu tries desperately to reach his younger self, but the Corinthian holds the crying toddler always just a little bit out of the boy's reach. This time the Akabanes attacking him are merely a distraction, unable to cause him any harm.
Pure chaos. Damn it. He was in control of everything, but now…
"Gakuhou," Gilbert says, and he blinks. You can't control a dream. Try, and you will fail without a doubt.
But what can he do then?
He sees the Corinthian – himself – raise his hand, and time slows down as he watches how that hand smacks on Gakushuu's cheek with strength, sending the boy flying across the room. A moment the scene overlaps in his eyes with the classroom, and he nearly looks at his own hand, unable to believe he did it again.
This is a dream, he reminds himself a little weakly. Just a dream. Gakushuu is fine…
"Well, boy," he hears his voice saying. The Corinthian has walked to Gakushuu who is still sitting on the floor, slumped against the wall. He realizes suddenly that all the Akabanes have disappeared. "Tell me, whose eyes shall I feast on? Yours or his?" The Corinthian is pressing a knife against the still crying toddler's cheek.
"Let him be," Gakushuu says, attempting bravery but his voice is shaking. "Father, please, don't…"
Father? Has the boy forgotten this is a dream? Does he actually think that monster is him?
The Corinthian finally lets go of the toddler who falls down on Gakushuu. Somehow those two merge into one, and only the child is left on the floor, still crying and terrified. The nightmare grasps his hair and turns to face Gakuhou, grinning.
This is a dream, Gakuhou thinks, as cold rage suddenly floods over him. And if this is a dream of violence, so be it. A dream of violence, where…
The Corinthian starts to say something, but Gakuhou doesn't listen. He breaks into a run toward the two, focused on those grinning eyes. Gakuhou! someone calls, and in the corner of his eye he sees something shining flying toward him. He grasps it without pausing, without looking away from his prey, and finds himself holding Gilbert's sword-stick.
He has covered the distance between them but doesn't slow down. Staring the monster straight in the eye he drives the sword through the Corinthian's heart.
"A dream of violence, where I destroy a monster who threatens my child," he says quietly, as the nightmare sways and withers away.
A/N:
This feels like an abrupt end to the chapter, but I think I'll cut this off here. I had been planning to end this chapter a bit later, but again, it's growing quite long…
I have once had a lucid dream. In it, I flapped with my hands (there are dream-y reasons why I did that) and suddenly started flying in our living room (that's when I realized it's a dream.) But apparently even when you're sort of conscious in your dream, you are still dreaming and can't escape dream logic... I was somehow convinced that if I stop flapping my hands I'll fall, and if I fall, I wake up. And I was quite peeved about it, I'm actually having a lucid dream here, and all I can do is fly in circles in our living room?! And then I realized that yeah, if this is a dream, I can change things, and I did that thing with the window glass. It was kind of funny, I could see my reflection on it when I flew toward it, I thought "there's no glass," and then there was no glass and I flew out. And then my alarm went off and I woke up: :/
But yes, that's the origin of Gakushuu jumping through the window.
One more chapter to go. Stay tuned for Waking Time. :)