Don't look, don't look, don't look.

Sol was finding it nearly impossible to focus on what Drowzee was telling them. No one who saw her would have thought this. She stared directly right at him, eyes never straying and appeared to be giving him her full attention. However, all of Sol's mental power was instead focused on getting herself to not think about the bodies on the floor. Sol briefly considered asking if they could have this discussion in another room, somewhere where she wouldn't see Ren out of the corner of her eye, where her gaze wouldn't pass over an unconscious Jak whenever she looked over at Eevee. Instead she remained silent, a constant chant of don't look running through her head.

"… so since nothing is real, anything can be real. The dream will grab whatever your mind thinks could be there it puts it there…"

Eevee was having the same problem as Sol, it just manifested differently. He openly stared at his team mates laying on the floor of their old room, blatantly not paying attention to Drowzee. Sol thought at least one of them should listen. Eevee probably thought she was handling that.

"… you'll be looking at the same thing but see it differently based on what your mind expects it to look like. Don't worry about that too much. You'll still recognize it for what it is even if you're not seeing it how it actually is…"

Damn, that sounded important. Oh, well. They had done more dangerous things with less information in the past. And Drowzee would still be able to talk to them in the dream. Until whatever cut him off from Jak and Ren happened again, at least.

"So, which one of you will be hosting?"

It took a second for Sol to realize they had been asked a question.

"Me," both Sol and Eevee said at the same time.

"You're both pretty eager for something not very pleasant."

"I can handle a little mind screwing," Sol said. Between the Dimensional Scream, the amnesia, and the supposed psychic training, Sol was pretty sure nothing could happen that hadn't already happened to her. "It'll be me. Besides, I've only got, like, a year and a bit of life up there so that's less area to search, right?"

"No. That's not at all how that works."

"Well it could help a little bit. You can't know for sure."

"I can and it won't."

"But are you sure?"

Drowzee sighed. While Sol was happy to distract herself with pointless arguing, Drowzee was far too exhausted to keep going and decided to let the matter drop.

"Four people in your head is going to be… uncomfortable. You're not a little kid so you'll be able to handle it better, but you're still going to want to get it finished as fast as possible."

"Right. So… what do we do to start?"

Drowzee sighed, a long and drawn out sound. Sol felt a bit self conscious as she realized he must have already explained that part already.

"You have to be asleep for me to be able to do anything. Are you two sure you want to do this? If it doesn't work, I can't just put everyone back in their own heads. You have to wake up for that, which means Azurill's nightmare needs to be broken, and that's something the others weren't able to do. And as I said, four people is a lot to have in your head for more than a little while."

"Sol, I can do this part," Eevee offered. "It feels like you always end up with the riskiest jobs."

"Hey, the party's at my place and you're not taking it from me. So," Sol clapped her hands together. "Sleepy time. Eevee, you're my pillow."

Drowzee frowned deeply and stared at the two of them as they settled down.

"Problem?" Sol asked.

"No. You two are… not quite what I remembered."

"Eevee can be badass and fluffy."

Drowzee's frown deepened even further and doubt was clearly written on his face.

"Hey, we kicked your ass before and if this nightmare weirdness has an ass, we'll kick it too."

Sol, head resting her head on Eevee's side, closed her eyes. Time to sleep. Any minute now. Stop thinking and go to sleep. Eevee shifted. Despite her best efforts, Sol was extremely aware of everything around her. She didn't feel tired in the slightest.

"Hey," Sol said, not bothering to open her eyes. "How am I supposed to sleep with a child abductor standing over me?"

There was a moment's pause before she heard Drowzee wordlessly leave the room. Sol sighed and tried to stop thinking. Relax. Take a break. She deserved it.

Hmm. The floor wasn't very comfortable. They should have asked for a bed. And actual pillows. Eevee wasn't feeling quite as soft as usual and it was a little distracting.

Whatever. Focus on sleep. You've got work to do so you better be sleeping when I get in there! Drowzee was probably thinking that right now. Just give me five more minutes and then I'll sleep! Ha. Sol smirked. It was good she could still find stupid ways to amuse herself. What time was it? It was getting late, wasn't it? Hmm… Maybe she should check? No. It didn't matter. Just try to sleep. What was Eevee thinking right now? Was he asleep? Asking could wake him up if he was, though. Sol started to feel a little thirsty. Really should have gotten a drink before laying down. What time was it?

"Sol?" Eevee shifted under her head.

"Trying to sleep here, Eevee."

"…Sol?" His voice was strained, turning her name into a plea.

"Did you-" Sol's sentence broke off when she opened her eyes. She closed then, reopened them, then brought her hands up and gave them a rub. She didn't see anything. There was a gapping emptiness above her that stretched up into a void just as dark as what was behind her eyelids.

Sol sat up and quickly took in her surroundings. She could feel hard, uneven stone beneath her, but it was obscured by a thin, slightly luminescent purple fog that hovered less than an inch above the ground. It shed just enough light to see Eevee frozen where he had been laying, staring off with wide eyes into the distance that was just as dark and empty as above.

"Did we fall asleep?" Sol asked.

Eevee slowly and gingerly caught to his feet as if any sudden movement would bring some unseen danger down upon them.

"Are we in your dream?" He whispered.

Sol stood, squinting to try to make out anything at all in the emptiness that surrounded them.

"Darkness and a glowing cloud. Any idea where-" Sol felt a breeze on the back of her neck and a sudden yelp from Eevee cut her off. She spun to see an empty space where he had been standing just a moment before.

"Eevee?" There was no sign of him. The purple fog whipped and flowed around Sol's feet as she spun around in circles, trying to find anything to point to where he had gone. "Eevee?!"

She felt another breeze on her neck. She immediately spun to face it, but the moment she was turned around something large and fast moving drove into her back, sending her sprawling. Fog curled around her limbs and entered her lungs as she shakily inhaled. It tasted like salt and grit and sparked a coughing fit. Sol's arms were shaky when she pushed herself up on her hands and knees, coughing violently.

Another brush of cool air on the back of her neck. The coughing came to a halt when something long, thin and cold wrapped around her throat and jerked backwards, pulling her up on her knees and then further until she toppled over onto her back. It loosened before disappearing entirely. An instinctual gasp from Sol filled her lungs with even more of the fog, kicked up by her thrashing and wild flails that failed to hit whatever it was that was attacking her.

There was no breeze to herald what happened next. A sharp agony like a knife driving in just below her ribcage, forcing out her breath so that the only sound she could make was a weak croak. Yet she could see no assailant. Her hands hit empty air. Nothing was there, but the pain in her midsection grew, stabbing, boring, spreading… gone. Sol inhaled rapidly, hands patting the spot that had gone from blinding pain to sore in a second. Wide, wild eyes twitched erratically and still couldn't find any sign of life around her.

What does this mean?

Sol flinched and her breathing grew even more erratic. The voice (thought?) came with a cold spike through her temple.

Where did you come from?

Sol bolted. She went from prone to sprinting in the span of one of her panicked heartbeats. She ran straight ahead, not bothering with direction as long as it was away, oh no they had barely started and Eevee was already missing. Sol was alone in the dark, but not quite alone enough.

How did you get here?

The voice wasn't really a voice. It had as much distinction and substance as a written phase, something that could have been done by anyone and lacked any distinguishing characteristics. Someone else could be speaking each time or the same person and Sol wouldn't have been able to tell the difference. Sol kept running.

…What is a Wanderer?

Sol's foot landed on something soft, something not quite solid and compressed under her feet. The sudden change was enough to make her stumble and her knee hit loose sand instead of hard rock.

Is it powerful?

The scene around her changed before her eyes. The glowing fog flowed back, revealing rippled sand dunes. The darkness above her brightened into a clear blue sky, and Sol found herself not in an empty void but a sprawling desert.

I want it.

Tell me everything.

A sharp pain spiked through Sol's head. She pressed her palms against her temples until it settled into a manageable ache. Damn it, what was going on? Where was Eevee? Sol picked herself up off the ground. It was a lot brighter here, at least, so she could more easily see her surroundings. Something was off about it, though. It took her a minute to realize that she wasn't casting a shadow and that the light wasn't coming from a single identifiable source. The sky was still a bright, vibrant blue but it was completely missing a sun. She has no idea where the light was coming from.

That was… strange. But not really a pressing matter. Sol started moving again, slower this time, in what she assumed was a straight line. The ache in her head persisted, periodically worsening to nearly unbearable before fading down to nearly unnoticeable. However, it never went away completely. She focused on keeping her feet moving, going up and down large sand dunes for what felt like hours. It took a great deal of effort to press onwards. Sol felt the urge to quit after every step, and it was that unerring attention on her own feet that she failed to notice the palm tree until she walked face first into it.

She blinked dazedly and stepped back. Huh. Palm trees and low shrubs formed a wide, loose ring in front of her, and in the center was a large pool of dark water. Did she just happen to wander into an oasis? That seemed far too convenient for Sol to accept it at face value. But damn, the more she looked at it the more fatigued she felt. The thought of simply passing this by and pressing onwards filled her with a mix of dread and exhaustion.

… Just a quick look around. This was the only landmark she had come across in an other wise barren environment, so she should at least check for signs of where to go next or if anyone else had passed through here. Sol cautiously stepped around the tree approached the water. It looked cool. Refreshing. And she had been walking for a long time. Maybe if she just…

Sol sat down on the edge of the pool and gingerly dipped the soles of her feet into the water. Sol sighed in relief. It just felt so good. It couldn't hurt to stay here for a while. It wasn't like she was accomplishing anything by wandering around. She shifted close to the water so up to her ankles were submerged. Besides, when you're lost, aren't you supposed to stay in one place until someone found you?

Not when you're the one doing the looking.

Sol frowned and quickly dismissed that thought. Leaving here wouldn't change anything. What difference can one person really make? Stay here, leave, it wouldn't change the world at large so what was the point in even trying? Better to just stay, relax, the water was nice so maybe later she could try swimming-

"I told ya ta ge' otta my cave, but ya wouldn't listen.. This'll teach ya!"

"RUN!"

Picked up and swept away with the water, flipped and twisted around in the dark, trying hard to break the surface…

Sol jerked back from the water's edge, heart beating wildly with sudden panic. What the hell was she doing?! She shouldn't be here! She didn't even like water so why the hell would she ever be tempted to stay here? Her headache flared up painfully causing her to flinch.

She kept scrambling back until her back hit something solid. She expected it to be a tree, but to her surprise, when she looked she saw a familiar Cubone staring blankly at the water.

"Ren!" Sol grabbed his shoulder and shook hard. His eyes were unfocused, his expression was slack, and he didn't look like he was aware that Sol was even there. Sol certainly hadn't noticed him. What the hell was wrong with this place?

It took a lot of shaking before awareness returned to Ren's eyes. He blinked rapidly and slowly began to shake himself into the present moment. He gave Sol a quizzical stare.

"Ren! What are you doing just sitting here? Where's Jak?"

Ren looked away from Sol and scanned the oasis, keeping silent.

"Hey, don't zone out again," Sol said and gave him another shake. "I don't know what this place is, but it's not good. We can't sit here while this nightmare weirdness gets any worse."

Ren still stared out at the water and remained quiet. Sol was convinced he was falling back into the stupor she found him in until she noticed the odd glances he gave her, like he was trying to but couldn't quite bring himself to look her in the eye. His entire demeanor was strange, and it took several seconds for Sol to piece it together. He looked ashamed.

"Ren, are you ok? How long have you been here?"

"…It's a familiar prison, one I've been in before. And once again it was not by my own power that I was freed." His voice was sad, like he was disappointed in himself. He stood up but still wouldn't look directly at Sol.

Sol wasn't sure what was meant by that. Usually she was a much better Ren translator.

"What happened to Jak? How did you get separated?" Sol thought of Eevee and his sudden disappearance. Did the same thing happen with them?

"I'm not sure. Facing her own trial, perhaps."

"Alright. Onwards, then."