Disclaimer: Anything familiar to you, I do not own. This is entirely a work of fan fiction for personal amusement and fulfillment. I make nothing from this and own none of it.

Chapter Twelve: In Morpheus' Realm.

There was still a little fire in her heart when she shut the engine off in the driveway to the soon-to-be Madsen household. It was hard to think of the place as her home lately, especially over the last few days. As uncomfortable as the moment was, Chloe recalled the day when Max said that Chloe was her home. There were a lot of unfortunate implications attached to that, but Chloe had come to understand it at least. In a way, anywhere with Rachel and Max was her home a lot more than this building where she slept at night. Alright Price, she said. You actually didn't fuck up today, so let's go inside, get upstairs and let this just end as a good day.

While Chloe had been thrown off at first at the idea of the first day of play practice being only three days after auditions, it was nice to have a quick turnaround. As long as I don't have to actually tell anyone what my role is I am just fine. It felt a little on the embarrassing side to say 'I am playing a genderbent fairy queen.' Hey, it's whatever. Chloe was still riding the high of realizing that she wasn't absolute shit at this and though they were basically all sitting around reading from the scripts at this point, she was comfortable with the process.

She opened the door to the house pocketing her keys and immediately locking eyes on the stairs. Up there was the safe area: the bathroom, her bedroom. Unfortunately, no sooner had she shut the door behind her than her mother's voice sounded out. How the fuck does she keep getting off work so early? Chloe groaned to herself.

"Chloe?" her mother called again. In surrender, she walked through the hall and out into the combination dining and living room. By the looks of things they were already a good five or ten minutes into the meal of mashed potatoes and fried pork chops. Still, everything seemed to be calm enough, so if she just remained level headed it might even be something resembling a friendly conversation with her mother. Her stomach growled at the sight of an empty third plate at the table. Oh no, don't you betray me, you son of a bitch, she told it. "Hey, sweetie, how was school?"

"It was alright," she responded, and then, determined to put more effort into it, she added, "They kept us late at practice so we could, I dunno, discuss our characters. I don't know, but I think it helped. Shakespeare is pretty intense." Chloe sat down at the table, the smell of the chops causing her to literally water at the mouth.

"I can't believe you're late to this delicious dinner so you can play dress up with a bunch of- of geeks." The comment seemed to start at a comedic tone but by the time David was done, he was looking at her as if she was a waste of time and space. God damn it. She looked once at her mother. Early on, this was the kind of thing Joyce would call out, even before their little tete-a-tete in May. Now, her mother rolled her eyes dismissively but remained otherwise silent.

"Well," Chloe said, starting to rise after only a couple of seconds. Neither of them are going to ruin today, she thought. Against the memory of that look Rachel gave her as she was doing her best to describe Oberone to Mr. Keaton, not even David's snark was sufficient, yet. She was proud of me. Chloe shook her head. "It's been a long day of being a geek, so I'm gonna go upstairs and have a shower and get a start on that English homework." It wasn't even a lie, the essay on The Catcher in the Rye wasn't exactly in her wheelhouse. It wouldn't hurt to just get it over with.

"So your mother works a long shift," David started. "Then pulls some favors to get off early, come home and cook for her family. You show up late and then to top it all off, with this amazing dinner your mother has worked so hard to make waiting on you, you decide to go up to your room and mope like an ingrate." 1-2-3-4-5- "Are you going to say anything?" David asked her. His silverware clattered against his plate.

"David," her mother started. Whatever she was going to say was dismissed with a wave of his hand. For the first time Chloe could remember, she took that dismissal without an argument, without even a word. Nope.

"Well?" he asked Chloe. She responded by pushing her chair in, carefully and turned away. "Oh fine, go sulk in that dark room of yours. More food for me." Keep trying to pretend you're joking and not being a massive douche. I am not going to have it out with you today. Her, maybe, not you. She took the stairs in quick succession and was in the bathroom with a new outfit before she could lose her cool. Asshole.

Me

He started the minute I came home.

Rachel

David?

Me

Who else? I think it's going to be worse than usual. I think it's time to get up to my old tricks.

Rachel

Old tricks?

Me

Absolutely. Let's start with telling Blackwell rules to fuck off, again. Can I stay with you tonight?

Rachel

Any time ^_^

Me

No emoji.

If she thought the shower was going to buy enough time for everything to calm down, Chloe was wrong. No sooner had she shut the door to her room and begun hunting down her copy of the novel in question than the door opened again. She turned on the spot, ready to chew David out for violating her privacy, yet again. It wasn't David standing just inside the door, it was her mother, still dressed for work. She didn't even have time to change out of that ridiculous uniform. She had to rush right home and cook for Sergeant Dickweed.

"Mom, please don't," she asked, genuinely intent on not arguing with her. Frustration, though, was beginning to mount. Chloe ran a hand through wet hair and noticed, with some annoyance at her reflection, that her roots were starting to show. "I bit my tongue and let him shit all over me as usual, now I'm going somewhere I'm wanted for a few hours."

"Somewhere you're- Oh, Chloe, you're being so dramatic," it wasn't the dismissive tone, it was the dismissive phrase that pissed her off. Her mother flipped on the large, overhead light in the room. "Why are you so sensitive all the time?"

"Do you remember what we talked about when I came back?" Chloe asked her. There was no response. "Yeah, I figured you did. You made a promise."

"And I kept it."

"For maybe a day," Chloe replied, her voice rising. Nope, not like this. Exhaling, she turned away from her mother and found the book she was looking for amid the chaos of her desk, half buried underneath her laptop. "It was a simple deal: I shut my mouth when David treats me like shit and you speak up. You make him stop being a sexist sack of shit around me, you make him stop being a jerk about literally everything and I don't have to be 'disrespectful' by daring to stand up for myself." Chloe heard her sigh.

"David is just an old fashioned guy, he doesn't mean any of it."

"I don't give a fuck, mom," Chloe said. That seemed to upset her mother judging by the face she made, one of disappointment. "He's still here, he still calls me 'girlie' or 'soldier' more often than my name. He still searches my room. He kicked my door down once."

"And he found you sleeping next to Rachel, who, lord knows I like her, but if she is more than just a friend, there have to be restrictions." Chloe blinked once and realized that she was not too embarrassed to have this conversation, for once.

"Speaking of names," she said, redirecting the conversation away. "If either of you think I'm taking his, you're nuts. We had a deal, mom."

"You're being really disrespectful right now, Chloe," her mother said. "And I don't appreciate it."

"That seems to be the standard here. He talks down at me everyday and you disrespected me," Chloe told her and that seemed to actually quiet her mother down for a second. "You lied to me, you broke your promise. I kept up my end. I bit my tongue. He made me feel like shit. He made me feel scared in my own home, he made me feel scared to come home. I live thinking that when I'm here he's always over my shoulder and I'm usually right. I went through all of that without really giving him a piece of my mind because I promised you that I wouldn't and I'd let you do it." At one point the calm got away from her. Her voice began to rise and her tone shifted from 'trying to explain' to 'trying to be heard.' Chloe knew well that her 'trying to be heard' voice was nothing easily missed. David would have already heard her ."And I'm done. You're not going to do anything about him." The crushing realization dawned on her. "You never were going to do anything about him. You never will."

"You're just overreacting to the marriage," Joyce told her, eyes beginning to water slightly, as if she was a victim and not part of this whole disaster.

"This is me realizing you were never going to help me if it meant telling David fucking Madsen not to be an absolute asshole, maybe because you love him too much or maybe because every other thing he says is shitty as hell and that would be too hard. You stopped me from staying somewhere where I was wanted and brought me back here where I am not." Chloe backed away and grabbed her school bag from the end of the bed.

"David isn't that bad, anymore, Chloe. He's really been trying."

"The next time," she said, "that he calls me 'girl' or 'girlie' like he's talking to a dog, or he calls me soldier and tells me to 'shape up' he's going to be happy." Joyce raised an eyebrow at her. "Because he's going to get the war he wants." With the bag over one shoulder, she moved toward the door and found herself actually dumbfounded when her mother stepped in her way. Okay so she's not done, yet.

"Why are you so intent on looking for trouble where there is none?" Joyce asked her. For a moment, she wanted to tell her mother what David's attitude toward her really did. She wanted her mother to know that she sometimes, late at night laying in bed, believed some of his bullshit, that it made her feel like nothing. She wanted to tell her mother that this was his goal and it was working and that was not okay. He shits on everything I love, he criticizes everything I do or think or say.

"I'm tired of being on high alert every time he walks into the same building as me. I'm tired of being made to feel like nothing and what I'm most tired of is you pretending that you don't see it. I know you're smarter than that and when you act like this it makes me feel like you're lying to me twice." This seemed to take the wind out of Joyce's sails to a degree. She stepped away from the door. Chloe relaxed knowing that her escape was possible, but she wasn't done yet, not now that the discussion had started.

"You lied and manipulated me into being David's stressball. I don't know what went wrong in his head and I don't care. It's not my responsibility to be a target for all the sick, hateful things in his head. Now, I'm going where I'm wanted. When it comes time for the wedding, I will smile and nod, I will be there for my mother- my mother who will never be there for me again, but other than that? David decided a long time ago everything else was fair game and I'm going to play by his rules." Chloe opened the bedroom door. For just a moment she read her mother's face and saw the same self-righteous disappointment in it. Does she really not get it? Is she really not pretending? "I love you, mom. I just wish you had never made that promise to me. I would have been happier with you just letting it all go on instead of lying to me."

Chloe met David outside the door. He was staring down at her with a lot of things to say clearly on the tip of his tongue. She chose not to give him the satisfaction. It took no time at all to duck past him. He did not even try to stop her. Because mom is right there and touching me is something even she won't be able to ignore. There was no sense of closure as she got into her truck. Strangely, though, watching her mother in the top floor window and David standing in the front door was pleasing. I'm done rolling over, I'm done doing tricks.

Chloe turned her head. A soft wind blew through her hair. It was dark, but by the limited light sources in the area, Chloe recognized precisely where she was. The long stretch of grass she was standing in, the bench in the distance: it was a park, the park where, on a night just like this, she and Rachel had first really opened up to each other. Chloe turned a circle. For the moment she was simply looking at the outlines of the trees in the distance. Then her breath caught in her chest. Two dark figures stood several feet away, talking. Even at this distance, though, Chloe knew who they were both by their outlines and their voices.

The grass blades between her bare toes were soft a moment ago. Now, as if they knew she had found the night's secret, they were sharp, even hurting. That did not stop her from approaching. There was a cement path a ways off, but that would have led her in the wrong direction. It would take her away from the two girls gathered around a trash can. It wasn't a night like this, it is tonight. Chloe thought that maybe that should be strange. It didn't, though. What was weird was that one of the two girls in front of her, was her. It took thirty seconds to reach them. Why is there another me? I'm dreaming. Why would there be another me? The realization that she was dreaming did nothing to change anything around her.

The other Chloe looked slightly slimmer or maybe it was the way she held herself. Her hair was undyed. Every time Rachel turned to speak to her, to tell her about the day her father rescued her after an accident hiking, the other Chloe's face was normal, if concerned. Each time Rachel looked away, it changed. The other Chloe changed entirely. She became almost see-through and the expression on her face was blank, almost robotic.

"Can I borrow your lighter?" Rachel asked the other Chloe. For a moment, she watched herself become real again, digging the lighter from her pocket.

"No," she told herself. Neither of them turned, neither of them noticed her. "Please, just stop." Nothing changed. Rachel took it and with both Chloes watching, lit the photograph in her hand on fire. For a moment, Other Chloe looked shocked and then she faded into that half existence again. It made Chloe's stomach churn, but she had bigger fish to fry. Reaching past this other version of herself, she tried to grab Rachel by the shoulder as the photo fell into the trash can. "No, please stop." The hand that should have seized Rachel and stopped her or at least thrown her off balance passed clean through her .

I can't do anything, here. I can't change anything here. Chloe wondered if that was true. Desperately, she wanted it not to be. Chloe was forced to stand back and watched the fire grow. She watched the faux Chloe fade away more than before, until she was almost a shade. The majority of the park joined her. Benches vanished entirely, grass turned to void. Almost everything but one single tree and one trash can ceased to matter. Chloe positioned herself between Rachel and that trashcan, desperate to change things.

"You can't, kiddo, this one's not yours to change," there was no body to match her father's voice to, again. Not my what? She didn't understand, but Chloe swallowed and focused, eyes narrowing on the girl in front of her. I can stop it, this time, she told herself.

"Rachel, stop it!" Everything changed, if only briefly. For a moment, only steps away, a third person came into view, as if teleported there. She looked haggard and terrified, dressed in clothing that she typically only liked to wear to bed, but it was another Rachel. Chloe whipped her head around to match eyes with her. She did. They did match eyes. This Rachel can see me. The girl's confusion was palpable and Chloe wanted to try to understand what was happening. The first Rachel, though, had plans. Chloe didn't feel anything as the younger girl's foot passed through her body like it was air. She did hear the trash can fall over, she heard the wild scream of rage and saw, in the younger Rachel's eyes, fire and hatred.

When Chloe turned, the Rachel who could see and hear her was gone and the tree behind her was set aflame. A whole forest fire waited. Homes and buildings were going to be destroyed. Peoples' lives would be changed forever, all over again. Chloe tried to reach out for Rachel, but even the few remaining physical things in this world were fading, including her. The shade Chloe was gone, the trash can was gone and Rachel was fading fast, but she would not stop screaming. Chloe wanted nothing more than to get hold of her and make the screaming stop. It did not entirely come from a place of care, either: her ears were aching.

She opened her eyes.

She opened her eyes. Sitting straight upright, her heartbeat wild, Chloe collided with something in the small bed. That something, it seemed, was Rachel herself. The tiny light plugged directly into the outlet on the far side of the dorm room was just enough to make her face visible in the night. Judging by the looks of things, she was feeling not far at all from the same way Chloe was. Confused, Chloe looked about and untangled herself from Rachel. It was a little more difficult than she thought. Hours ago, the realization that she would either sleep quite literally pressed up against Rachel or on the floor had been a bit troublesome. Now, it was oddly comforting.

When they had both halfway recovered their wits, they sat together, with one of Chloe's arms around Rachel as she tried to find the words to describe her dream. Slowly, their breathing quieted. Her heartbeat was getting back to normal. She turned toward Rachel only to see that the girl looked devastated. Pulling her closer, Chloe waited. Maybe this wasn't the time. Maybe she had her own nightmare and needs to relax. The idea of two people sharing a bed having nightmares at the same time seemed like long odds. She was toying with the idea of how she might find those odds, for real, when Rachel spoke.

"I was back at the park, before the fire." Chloe froze. No, no, there are no odds for that . Technically speaking that wasn't true, but 'one in a million' didn't even begin to cover it. "I kept trying to stop myself from burning that picture, from setting that fire." Chloe swallowed. No, I'm still dreaming. I'm gonna wake up at any moment. "I get that it was a freak accident that made it get out of control, but I still hate it. I kept trying, but neither of us were listening to me." Wake up, Chloe. "And then-"

"And then another me appeared," Chloe told her. "And she was fucking terrified. Wasn't she?"

" What the fuck? "

"What the fuck is right." Chloe swallowed. Rachel disengaged from the embrace and slid to one edge of her bed, trying to keep her voice low. Chloe looked into Rachel's face and saw shock and confusion but that wasn't what she wanted to focus on. What she wanted was to focus on how beautiful she was. If she was still asleep, a moment or two of selfishness wouldn't hurt her, because this dream within a dream was a real bitch.

"Chloe, are you telling me we had the same dream?" Chloe closed her eyes. Wake up. This is getting weird. "Chloe Price, look at me." She did. When she opened her eyes Rachel was no longer so scared but she did look determined. She looks like a lightning bolt waiting to strike, Chloe thought. Maybe I am awake. I don't think I'm smart enough to make all this up. Chloe didn't know what to say.

"I- I guess we've been spending a lot of time together?" Chloe offered. It was, for the most part, a joke. For once, her sense of humor did not go over very well. Rachel stared blankly. "I don't know, I don't know what to say." That seemed to be enough to relax her, slightly. "I mean, am I dreaming right now?" Rachel reached out toward her. "Don't you do it," she warned the thespian, knowing exactly what Rachel's plan was. Rachel pulled back, smiling a little. She did, however, pinch her own arm, rather harshly. Rachel winced.

"Well, I'm awake," she told Chloe.

"Why does weird shit keep happening to us?" Chloe asked. "And- holy shit!" Rachel raised a finger to her lips, gesturing for Chloe to quiet down. She tried her best. "The weird ass dreams."

"What?"

"I've been having crazy dreams ever since we met," she told Rachel. "Well, I mean since we started hanging out. Have you?" Rachel shook her head. Chloe reached out and brushed Rachel's hair back behind her ear. It earned her a soft smile and that was enough to at least calm Chloe's surprise, though nothing was going to quell her confusion. "Most of the time, I can do whatever I want in them. Even when I realize that I'm dreaming." Slowly, Rachel relaxed and eased back toward Chloe. "But sometimes- oh my god."

"Go on, Chloe."

"Sometimes, I have dreams where no one can see or hear me." Rachel nodded.

"Like tonight?" she asked.

"Yeah, but it only happens-" Chloe laughed. "It only happens if I'm sleeping near someone. Like that night a few weeks ago when we fell asleep on Steph's couch with Mikey? I had a weird one, then. I still don't understand most of what I saw." Rachel was quiet, like she was letting her talk. "Rachel, I think I can see other peoples' dreams. How is that possible?"

"I don't know," Rachel replied, rubbing her eyes. "Part of me thinks I'm still asleep and making this shit up."

"Yeah, me too," Chloe told her. "Do you know any other psychics we could ask?" she asked, teasingly. Rachel didn't laugh but she was no longer tense. Okay, I think I'm about to lose my god damned mind. Or maybe I already am. She leaned back in the bed. "Rachel?" she said.

"What is it, Chloe?"

"I think I'm actually scared shitless," she admitted. After a second, Rachel's weight shifted on the bed. Turning her head slightly, she saw Rachel's face inches from her own. For the first time since May, their lips met. The fear didn't leave but there was a new voice in the fray. She had heard echoes of it, before: a voice in the distance. As she returned the kiss, it grew louder, happier and prouder. It told her that this was precisely where she needed to be. That voice told her that yeah, something weird as hell was happening to her, but she was still Chloe Price and she had Rachel Amber beside her. Add her oldest friend to that mix and she was absolutely a force to be reckoned with, for Blackwell, for David and for anything else thrown her way. Rachel does this to me.

For the next couple of minutes, she felt powerful. She felt alive. She felt happy. She felt these things in a way she had never truly experienced before. When they faded, they left an echo behind. Something that she wasn't sure could ever be robbed from her. Chloe managed to escape the dormitory into the early morning air without being spotted or heard, the rest of the girls asleep in their beds. Those echoes? Those marks left behind by the night Chloe had just spent? They didn't make her wonder less about this dreaming nonsense. They did not make her mother's betrayal any better or change her conviction to put David in his place

All of these things were stronger. That's right, I am Chloe fucking Price, she thought as she crossed the invisible property line of Blackwell Academy, a grin stretching across her face. I might be some weird dream spy, but I am and always have been this town's worst nightmare. It's time to kick some ass. Turning in the direction she knew she'd left her truck, Chloe thought to herself, Unfortunately, I have to start that by speed writing an essay between now and fifth period.