Cathy opened the door slowly and quietly, and then shut it behind her quickly so that the light from the other room wouldn't disturb the sleeper on the bed. She approached the slumbering form with quiet steps, her eyes adjusting quickly to the lack of light. She could make out the shape of the body on the bed, Duo's features easily discernible.
Everything was dark. Duo felt the sensation of walking, but he couldn't pinpoint exactly where he was. It could have been outside, but there was no noise, either of traffic or wilderness. He could have been in his apartment, but he couldn't detect the presence of another person…
Wait! There –was- someone else in the darkness. He stepped forward, hands in front of him to stop his body from running into anything. After a short moment of moving forward, he stopped, feeling the presence move around behind him, almost as if it were circling him. "Who's there?" he asked the darkness.
A light flashed and his eyes closed instinctively. When he opened them again, he was standing in the middle of a deserted road, just on the edge of a ring of light given of by a nearby lamppost. He looked up at the light and followed the pole to the figure standing at the base. Brown eyes stared back at him.
"Cathy?"
"Hello, Duo. You do realize that you're dreaming, don't you?"
Duo looked around, looking for signs that she was joking with him. No shapes stood out, no houses, no landscape. Just the dull shadows in his mind existed. "I know now."
She smiled, stepping down from the curb and approaching him. "And you also know that what you're involved in isn't all that you think it is?"
"What do you mean?"
"Solo didn't tell you everything, but I expect you know that, or we wouldn't be having this conversation. I'm really just here to warn you. You're a new pawn in an old game, and the chances for your survival are slim. If you're not careful, you could be the domino that takes us all out."
"How do I stop that?" asked Duo, feeling the truth in her words.
"You already have the right idea. You have to learn. And with wisdom comes life. You need your friends now more than ever. You must be careful, but at the same time, you have to learn to trust your judgement."
"I'm sorry, Cathy, but I'm as confused now as I was before."
"Then I'll just add another riddle, and see if you can work it out. You have multiple purposes right now, some of which you're not even aware of. One of them you do know, is to fall in love, which you've accepted rather easily."
"Falling in love isn't a choice, so it's something I'm not actually going to have to think about."
"Don't be so quick to dismiss this as something that will come with time. It is a large part of why you're here, even if Solo doesn't want you to recognize it. Do you honestly think that he'd be allowed to lie in that space between living and dying where you first met him?"
"It would make sense if he couldn't," Duo admitted, perplexed. "I don't remember now exactly what he said."
"When it comes to you, you will know. Until then, guard your life well."
"Guard-" He started, only to be cut off by an explosion nearby. "What's going on?"
"When the end comes, will you have completed your purpose?"
Duo jerked into a sitting position, his heart beating hard in his chest, his eyes wide in the dark. He reached a hand out blindly, and met with air for several seconds before he found the switch for the light beside his bed. He turned it on and light revealed the room to his eyes. He was alone. The door was shut, the windows still keeping out the light of day. He drew in a shuddery breath, closing his eyes as he remember the anticipation of his dream.
"I don't feel very childish," he muttered to the empty air, filling the silence with his ragged breathing. He looked down at his lap and grimaced. He had more problems to deal with than odd dreams; the after effects of said dream being one of them.
Go to Chapter 17 to resume reading the story, or return to 11 and choose another couple.
