Chapter Nine: Nightmares
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"There's no way that's what it means..."
"What the hell are you talking about?"
"I'm...not sure."
"Then shut up."
Fury leaned down again, crushing their lips together. If he was going to breate himself later for this, he may as well enjoy it while it lasted. He couldn't understand what was going through his head at this point, this was a very dangerous thing to get into. But since when had something like that stopped him?
Fear pressed back willingly enough for a few minutes, before stopping suddenly. With a hand on Fury's chest to keep him at bay, he shook his head. "Wait...Sorrow..."
Fury tensed. "Is he here?"
"No...but..."
A thought struck the pyromaniac. With an annoyed growl, he rolled over to sit next to the mercenary. "You've gotta be kidding me..."
Fear was confused. "What?"
Fury only shook his head.
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He was upset. Okay, he knew that much. But why? Sorrow leaned against the hotel room's door as if he would collapse without its support. Which was a very real possibility at this point.
Why? Why was this affecting him so badly? True, coming across two of his friends at such an intense moment was a bit awkward. But he felt like someone had kicked him in the chest. There was definately more going on than general unease.
He slid down to a sitting position, still against the door. He knew what was wrong, the thought hit him as swiftly as that proverbial kick. It wasn't something he necessarily wanted to admit to, but there it was. It had been there for days, and he hadn't picked up on it.
Or something like that.
He shook his head adamantly. "No. It's not going to happen like that. I'm stopping this before it even starts."
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"God, you're such an idiot," Fury muttered.
Fear, who was being held up by Fury slinging one of the black-haired man's arms over his shoulders, sighed. "I know..."
He dragged the enebriated Cobra down the sidewalk. "You're never allowed to drink again."
To tell the truth, Fury was feeling the effects of his own rounds rather painfully. But there were more pressing matters at hand, so he'd have to deal with his personal hangover later. Probably after he took care of Fear's as well.
Fear pulled away from him, standing on shaking legs. "It's not that...Something just...felt i wrong /i for some reason...I'm not sure what or why, but I went crazy for a second there."
Fury shrugged him off, not caring to argue. "Okay, so what now?"
"Let's just go to bed."
"You mean that as in 'let's go to sleep in seperate beds', right?"
"Um...yeah."
"Just checking."
"OW!" Fear jumped suddenly, slapping a hand to the back of his neck. Fury watched as he lifted the hand away. A single yellow and black dot flew away indignantly.
"Was that a...?"
The mercenary gasped. "Shit! Fury, follow that bee!"
"Hornet."
"WHATEVER!"
The brunette started after the flying insect. Fear took off the other way. "Where the hell are you goin'?!"
"To get Sorrow!" he replied. "Don't lose that bug!"
Fury growled, and then began the chase.
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Sorrow didn't turn around. Fear shut the door behind him quietly, rushing over to the bed against the wall.
"Sorrow, wake up! We've gotta go!"
The medium's eyes didn't open. He shook the smaller man's shoulders, getting no response. Panic leapt up in his throat. "SORROW!"
Still nothing. Fear shook him again, barely able to breathe. He backed away, eyes locked on his friend's unmoving form.
"No...this can't..." he backed up against the wall until he hit it, sinking down to the floor.
There was a pain in his chest, like his entire body had sank underwater. He buried his face in his hands, shaking.
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Along the sidewalks, people stared as a man ran by them, chasing something and cursing in long streams. Fury, attempting to keep up with a particularly fast bee--hornet, whatever--, hopped over a hedge.
There was going to be pain somehow, either the Cobra, or Fury inflicting some onto Fear.
He hit something. Or someone. He bounced off the much taller figure, letting out a rather loud explititve.
"Jeez. There's a nice welcome."
He stopped, looking up at the masked figure. "Pain!"
The eyes closed in a smile. "The one and only! What's this I hear about one of you guys slapping this poor little thing?"
Fury held up his hands. "Fear did it."
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He didn't know how long he'd been sitting there, but his legs had fallen asleep. He didn't care. Everything they'd tried to do...it was over like that. And he'd been too busy out drinking and...well...he hadn't been there when he could've done something. He wasn't sure what he could've done, but it would've been better than this.
"I'm sorry..." he muttered into his arms.
He heard something. The tinest of noises. He looked up with wide eyes.
A gasp. It came again, forced and small. But it came from Sorrow and Fear couldn't have been happier. He jumped up and almost fell as the blood rushed back to his limbs. He made it to the bedside, grabbing hold of Sorrow's shoulders again.
"Sorrow! Can you hear me? Say something!"
He didn't reply, but the gasps became less and less forced, like it was becoming easier to breathe. The ghost began shaking, and he reached up and grabbed handfuls of Fear's shirt. Finally the eyes opened, wide and panicked.
"Fear!"
"I'm here! It's okay! You're okay now!" he let out a breath he didn't notice he'd been holding.
Sorrow wrapped his arms around the black-haired Cobra, burying his face in his torso. "I...I...Oh god..."
Fear, thouroughly shocked, held the other tight. "You're okay. I'm here and you're gonna be okay."
They stayed like that for a few minutes before Sorrow trusted himself to let go. He sat up, looking near tears. "I'm sorry..."
Fear shook his head. "What happened?"
Sorrow rubbed at his temple. "I...I made myself go to sleep. But this time, I...that smoke thing attacked me...through my dream."
The mercenary was still shaking. "I thought you were gone for good..."
Sorrow tried to make himself calm down. "I'm okay now. I'm sorry."
Fear grabbed him again, pulling him against his chest. "Jesus, I was so scared..."
Shocked, Sorrow didn't move. He felt something in his stomach again, only this time it wasn't the kick he'd felt before. This reminded him of something, and he mentally cursed himself for ruining his own moods.
"Where's Fury?" he asked, more angrily than he'd intended.
Fear let him go. "Oh crap! I forgot about him!" He grabbed Sorrow's wrist, pulling him up and toward the door. "We found one of the bugs, and I told him to follow it while I got you!"
Sorrow resisted, stopping his friend. "Hold on, I think we can go straight to him."
"You can do that?"
He shrugged. "I can. I don't know if I can take you. But it's worth a shot."
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"So...Sorrow's a ghost, and Fear's helping him find The Joy?"
Fury paused, lighting his cigarette. "Either that or Fear's just completely batshit insane. Either way, I figured it'd be best if I kept with him."
There was a flash of light, and Fear was in front of them. Looking a bit sick as well.
"I don't think I wanna do that again..."
Pain tilted his head in confusion. "How'd you do that?"
"Sorrow."
The hornet-wielding Cobra shrugged a shoulder. "Makes sense to me."
"Ask him if he knows where Joy is," Sorrow prompted.
"Before you ask, I have no clue where Joy's hiding," Pain said, earning him a few strange looks, only one of which he could see. "But I do know where The End is, and he may know something. Y'know, since he's old and full of wisdom or whatever."
"How did you get in touch with End?" Fury leaned against the wall.
"I didn't. He found me a couple of days ago. Said something about his parrot telling him about a secret mission and invisible things."
"Sometimes that parrot's too smart for its own good," a light voice spoke up from behind the group. They all whirled around in shock.
Sorrow grabbed Fear's arm. Fury dropped the lit cigarette he'd been holding.
"Joy..."