Kai: Cliffhanger, ne? +) Sorry that the updates were rather long ago - Tai had a writer's block. ands he was not in the city at summer, and then university started, she and I both has muuuch things to deal with... =_=
well, to the story)
The fourth night
- Okaaay... - Kathryn gave the purple-clad figure a stern look, - What brings you here, NiGHTS?
- Oh, I just happened to fly by, and then thought I'd like to visit you, - NiGHTS grinned innocently.
- Right, - she sat up in a bed and looked around, - At least I'm sure I'm dreaming. Well then...
She closed her eyes and tried to concentrate. NiGHTS lowered to the floor, head poking out above the footboard, with a curious look on his face.
He waited patiently for a minute.
- What'cha doing?
- Ugh, - Kathryn opened her eyes, humped in irritation and fell on her back, - I don't get it. I know I'm dreaming, how come I can't change this place?
- Hey, don't think about it much, - NiGHTS flew up, smiling, - Sometimes you have to take things as is, you know? Just loosen up and enjoy what you get!
- Yeah, right, - she raised her arms above her head, - Okay, maybe by controlling dreams I don't let my subconcsience speak up, maybe I'm missing important stuff because of that, maybe I don't rest properly and just add up to the pile of stress...
She glanced at NiGHTS. He looked throughtly confused.
- Nah, forget it, - she sighed, stood up and walked towards the window, purple jester trailing her.
Kathryn looked out. She saw a town, barely seen in the dark of the night, with only a few streets faintly marked with dying streetlamps. There was a clocktower that seemed enourmous, it's tall form soaring above the rooftops.
- Not my town either. Oh, well, I should enjoy things I get, huh?
- My point exactly! - NiGHTS got past her and out of the window. He faced her with a smile and offered a hand, - Feel like flying tonight?
- Mhhhm, - Kathryn frowned at a couple of brightest stars in the sky, - Does that mean dualizing?
- Oh, come on. You say it like it's a bad thing. I've dualized with a lot of Visitors, and no one complained even once!
Kathryn could suspect a kind of brainwashing, but she didn't want to offend NiGHTS.
- I want to fly, yes. Dualizing, no. Something about it just rubs me the wrong way and I can't help it, - she pouted a little, - Isn't there another way around?
- Like what? - NiGHTS tilted his head.
- I dunno. Pixie dust, maybe?
- You mean like in sparkles? I saw stuff like that in some Visitor's dream. But I can't make it, and I seriously doubt my sparkles can make you fly. And even if I made a paraloop, well... I don't think you'd like it, Kathy, - he leaned to her, - Kathy?
The girl seemed to be thinking about something. It took her another couple of seconds to notice the hand he waved before her face.
- What? Oh, sorry. Got lost in my thoughts. So, erm... we can use that fellow?
NiGHTS glanced in the direction she was pointing at. "That fellow" looked like something shiny with dragonfly wings poking out of the middle of it. On the closer inspection it turned out to be a chubby goggle-eyed creature with a halo, wings and extra glitter.
- Weird fairy, - Kathryn mumbled, putting a stress on "weird".
- That's a nightopian. It's also called a pian, - NiGHTS explained, - They don't have powers to make you fly, either.
- Well, too bad.
It took him some time to notice she was smiling. Or, rather, that her smile was somewhat innerving.
- Let's go Disney style, then! - Kathryn's smile widened, - You can carry me around!
***KT***
She came to regret it in two minutes.
It surprised her that NiGHTS hadn't even argue. Well, it's not like he understood her right away. But when he had got what she had meant, he didn't argue. He just gave her a smile.
A rather suspicious one, too. But she had been too busy explaining how one carries a girl around and therefore didn't notice.
About two minutes later she was regretting her idea deeply, holding onto NiGHTS' shoulders for her dear life. And while she knew nothing would happen even if she fell down, she didn't felt like trying. She tried asking the purple jester to slow down, but he seemed rather too much preoccupied with complex air tricks he was pulling. Then he made a dash towards the clocktower, nearly crashed into it - or so Kathryn thought - and circled around it a few times.
When Kathryn felt steady ground under her feet, she let her legs bend and sat quietly, huffing under her breath and catching up with her racing heart.
- Wasn't it exiting? - NiGHTS beamed, leaping into the air, - And it's even more fun when you're dualized, too!
- Do I gain any kind of control over the situation?
- Well, yes! Of course you do!
- In that case I'm in, - she got up onto her feet again, - How do I do it?
- Hold up your hand, - he smiled and reached out his own, - Then touch my palm with yours, and we're done!
- Does dualization happens every time you take someone's hand? - she raised her eyebrow.
- No. You have to wish for it. Or be ready for it. Or... - he paused with a confused look on his face, which he discarded with a carefree laughter, - It just sort of happens. I suppose you are ready enough, right?
- Right, - she nodded as she took his hand.
A white light enveloped them both, at speed that alarmed her to some extent. She felt disoriented and extremey lightweight. Then, she felt as if covered in something sticky, and when she opened her eyes, she saw the hourplate before her, and under her feet, far below in the distance, were dusky streets.
She looked at her arm. It was the arm of NiGHTS.
And she still felt as if covered in something. Or, rather, dressed in something uncomfortable, like old clothes she grew out of, or a suit that didn't fit at all. She tried to stretch her body, but it didn't improve anything.
- It isn't how it supposed to feel like, is it? - she asked him sourly, forming the question with her thoughts rather than speaking it out loud.
- N-o, - it felt like NiGHTS' voice was ringing in her head, and he sounded concerned, - Maybe it's because you're not used to the idea?
- I thought I was ready to dualize. It's not like I had any other choice anyway. Now what?
- We can try flying. Maybe that will get you more familiar with the concept.
- Ohhh, great...
Their shared body moved a little backwards, then up. Kathryn felt trapped in a ridiculous balloon, if not worse. She could handle flying in a straight line for some time, but when NiGHTS suggested they try paraloop, she felt nauseous. And that was very much embarrasing.
She didn't quite understood what happened after that, only that one second she felt relieved, and the next one she was falling, speeding toward the streets below. Kathryn looked down and wondered if hitting the ground would feel like anything, or would it make her dream of something else.
A few seconds later, she felt like crashing into something soft and round, and probably purple. It made her flew a little up into the air, enough for a rather flustered NiGHTS to catch her.
- Ohmygosh Kathy I'm so sorry! It must've been so scary, are you alright?
- Y-yes I am. No, it wasn't, really. Um, - she blinked and pulled herself together, - What had happened anyway?
- We undualized. To put it simple, you fell down. I don't really know why. It's probably because you have the Blue Idea in the lead.
- Intelligence, right? And how does it affect you and your dualization?
- I'm not too sure myself, but I've always found it easier to dualize with kids that have Red Ideyas. Bravery, I mean.
- Uh-huh. Well... bravery suits you? - she frowned slightly, - Are there any other... guys of your kind that dualize?
- Ehhh, I don't really think so, - the girl felt an unvoluntary shiver coming from him, - Nah, I'm probably the only one. 'Cause I'm special or something.
Kathryn couldn't help wondering about a trace of mocking in his voice. There was something he wasn't pleased with too much, or so it seemed.
- So now what? I suppose you're soaring aimlessly now, right?
- Oh... I think I am. You want me to take you somewhere?
- Well, now that you asked... Can you maybe reach that couple of stars? I think I need to check something.
***KT***
- I _knew_ it!
NiGHTS gave Kathryn a questioning look. The girl looked like she was going to laugh.
- Knew what?
- I suspected something when I saw that fairy right after I mentioned the pixie dust. Then there was the clocktower. Then, those two stars. Not to mention yourself. And now this island! It's Neverland for sure! Ohhh, it fits so well, - she couldn't help but giggle.
- What are you talking about exactly? I still don't get it, - NiGHTS pouted slightly.
- Ah, sorry. It's just that the dream resembles the Piter Pan story. Only that I don't get younger brothers. You don't know the story, do you?
- I don't really think I do.
- Okay. Now fly over to that bunch of clouds. They look like a nice place to walk.
NiGHTS, still puzzled, obidiently carried the rather impatient Kathryn to the clouds. She tested the misty surface with her foot, and gave it a few experimenting kicks. Once the trickster set her down, she went around for a short skip, got on her knees to grab some of the cloudy matter and then promptly tried to shape it into something.
All of the above with a huge grin of satisfaction plastered on her face.
- Uhhh, Kathy? About that pan thing?
- Wha?.. Oh, sorry, - she watched with amusement as the mini-cloud took off from her hand, looking rather displeased, - It's not everyda... every-night, anyway, that you get to walk on the clouds. So, about Peter Pan.
She crawled closer to the edge of the clouds and looked on the island beneath them.
- Basically, there's this three siblings, one girl and her two little brothers, who get a visit from a trickster boy from a fantasy land. The trickster lost his shadow, the girl sewn it back onto soles of his shoes, and in return he took the three of them on exciting adventures. His bunch of little brother needed a mom anyway, so that was very convenient for both sides.
- That sounds a lot like Nightopia! - NiGHTS beamed.
- Sure is. It's even visited while the kids are asleep. Now pick me up, I want to meet a mermaid.
***KT***
In a few other periods of time - NiGHTS wasn't keeping much track, really - he grimly decided to never, ever visit this particular dreamscape again.
Oh yes, they've seen the mermaids alright. Kathryn was very much amused when she found out that NiGHTS could grow a fishtail when in water. She went so far as to talk him into racing with other mermaids. Okay, that was actually fun, but she was just sitting on the shore through all of it, laughting and cheering on him. Then they visited the forest, and she jumped about the trees like a squrrel. Then they went to meet the indians, where she tried to talk with some particulary old woman, but lost track of their fuzzy conversation three times over, then gave up and told him they were going to the beach.
And he could never temp her into dualizing. Not with amazing corals and underwater caves. Not with the great cloudscapes. Not with the breathtaking canyon flights. Nothing. With the memory of their previous dualization still clear in her head, she simply refused it.
- It's Neverland alright, - Kathryn said with approval in her voice, - It's got everything the book has. Only I expected it would change over years, with so many kids coming through.
- Why? - NiGHTS was floating slightly behind her as she walked ankle-deep in water, - It's your dream. It's what you want it to be.
- Some people in the Waking say dreams are what we get. They convey messages from our subconscience.
- Well, that is also true. Dream reflect your heart, after all.
- Hmmm, - she mused, and stared into the open sea, - I kind of regret I couldn't understand that indian grandma. I bet she had something important to say. Mermaids, too, shoult have a couple of things to say...
- Hey, don't think too much about it, - NiGHTS flew in front to face her, and smiled, - That's your problem, you think too much.
- You can't blame me, - she shrugged her shoulders, - Thinking is what I've been doing for the most part of my life.
- It's no good thinking too much, - NiGHTS insisted, - Sometimes you should just experience things rather than analyze them.
She let her brow go up in amusement:
- Since when you're so philosophical?
NiGHTS grinned:
- Just because I seem carefree doesn't mean I can't be wise, Kathy.
- Okay, - she sighed, - But the problem is, nothing is really happening. So I can't experience anything...
At this very phrase, a net fell down upon her.