To VFgirl, with a big THANK YOU for the drawings. You rock, girl ;)
A/N 1: As in the previous chapters – ideas for fic and character development, questions, plotbunnies, suggestions, flames, character pictures, corrections, additions, comments, and everything in between can be mailed to hack_heaven@usa.net
A/N 2: This interlude takes place during Jhonen and Erik's conversation. It won't fit into chapter 21, but Laetitia insisted that I wrote it anyway (tip of advice: don't say 'no' to armed assassins. Trust me on that.)
xFreakx: Jhonen Vasquez? Have no idea; I just write the guy ;) Laetitia? Do something nasty? Oh, you have no idea...*big, evil grin*
Rascal: Define 'hurt'...
Sabrin: Well, sometimes people don't want to see what's right under their noses. But then again, maybe Kyle *has* noticed something...who knows? *g*
Italics indicates thoughts
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Third Interlude: Nightmares
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"What do you think his biggest fear is?" Jordane wondered and looked at the sleeping Ryan.
Pheonix shrugged and waved her hand in front of Ryan's face. There was no reaction. Not surprising, really, considering the sleeping pills they'd slipped into his food.
"How the fuck should I know?" she asked and stepped away from the bed.
"Defeat?" Hal suggested and moved closer. "He's a leader; all leaders fear defeat."
"Death, maybe," Laetitia speculated. "He was raised at an orphanage, wasn't he? No family, no roots...he only has his teammates. I don't think he'd take it lightly if he saw one of them get killed."
"Why just one of them?" Jordane asked with an evil glint in her eyes.
"You're a cruel woman, Melee," Aaron said from his place at the table.
"I learned from the best," Jordane replied and shrugged. "Not my fault I'm a good student."
Hal smiled wickedly.
"Besides, it's just a little nightmare," she said.
Zach shook his head.
"Remind me not to piss those girls off," he told Aaron, who nodded in agreement.
Hal rolled her eyes.
"Quit the comments and make yourself useful, okay? Do *you* have any suggestions?"
Aaron and Zach exchanged a look, then shrugged.
"Not really. We're with Jordane on this one," Zach said. "Show him the death of one of the Guardians. He'll hate that."
"Diana, maybe?" Pheonix suggested. "He's known her for the longest."
"No, pick Deirdre instead," Jordane objected. "She's the youngest. It'll hit him *right* where it hurts the most," she continued ruthlessly and planted a finger above Ryan's heart.
"You really do hate him, don't you?" Aaron asked quietly.
Jordane just sent Ryan a cold look.
"He's tried to fuck things up for Blade more than once. And if anyone fucks with Blade, they fuck with me, too."
Zach face lit up in an evil grin.
"There's an idea. Ryan knows that Blade is staying with the Guardians, right?"
"Probably, yeah," Hal replied, and the others nodded in agreement.
"Then let's show him some nightmarish vision of Blade killing one of them," he suggested. "We know how he fights – it shouldn't be too hard to make it look realistic."
"And Ryan would readily believe it," Jordane continued slowly, then grinned. "Damn, Zach, I love the way you think!"
"Anything for you, my lady," Zach said and mock-bowed.
"You know, I should be able to pull that off," Laetitia agreed.
"He's gonna be terrified when he wakes up tomorrow," Hal noted and toyed with one of her knives.
"Scared out of his wits," Jordane agreed.
"Seriously freaked," Pheonix added.
They looked at each other and Zach smirked.
"I love this job."
Laetitia shook her head and hid a smile. She approached Ryan bed silently, then sat down next to him and caressed his cheek. Drawing on a lifetime of death, Laetitia wove a net of nightmarish thoughts, then carefully wrapped Ryan's mind in it.
Enjoy your peaceful sleep while you can, Cretes. It will end soon enough.
She slowly got up again.
"It's done," she said and left the room, followed by the others.
Behind them, trapped in a fine web of dawning fear, Ryan started to move around restlessly.
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Coming up: Suzuka talks to Kyle, Ryan wakes up to another day in hell, and Jhonen makes the first of several decisions that will have far-reaching consequences for both teams...
