A/N

I really wanted this chapter posted the moment it was done. I had so much fun writing this chapter! Even if you don't normally leave comments, for this particular chapter it would really mean a lot to me if you would. There is a lot of stuff in here. And even the title has a double meaning!

The book referenced in this chapter: Persephone: Hades' Torment is an existing work created by Allison Shaw. I am in no way affiliated with this author but from the moment I knew about Hope's fascination with the Hades/Persephone myth, I researched book titles that Hope might like, came across this and I knew it would have its moment in this story!

This is also the chapter that sets things in motion. All I can say is: it has to do something with Death AND something that was revealed in the very first chapter. Since it was not touched upon again, I don't blame you if you don't remember.

What that something is will be revealed in the next chapter. One I still have to write. Hope to see you all in the reviews!

When Dee casually came strolling towards Hope, sunlight blasting off her, creating an almost sacred halo around her, all that was really missing was a chorus of angels heralding her approach.

Or maybe she was just insanely happy to see her friend. Here. In the Dreaming. The place she'd been banned from.

"Dee! Dee! Dee!" she called out. "Look where I am!"

Her friend gave her a very patient smile.

Yes, Hope knew she was bouncing on her toes, but she was so ecstatically happy!

"You are… standing in front of a water fountain," Dee said dryly.

"Yes, but where is that water fountain?"

Her friend's eyes lighted with humour and she actually looked around the place. "Hmm, in a courtyard?"

Hope rolled her eyes. "Yes, but where is that courtyard?"

"Next to a palace!"

She brushed a knuckle against her lips to keep a laugh from escaping. "But what palace?"

Dee walked right up to her and took her her hand to give it a brief squeeze. "The palace of a monarch who, until very recently found himself trapped, far away from his realm. He came to resent the people who did this to him, yet, one of them… a very brave, courageous young woman, risked everything to set him free. But, instead of showing his gratitude, as he should have, he acted like a petulant child. He's… still adjusting."

Hope sucked in a breath, then dropped her head in a nod. She pressed her lips tightly together and kept nodding in an attempt to fight off tears. "You really know how to suck the fun out of a game sometimes, you know that?"

"Aw!" Dee smiled at her as she sat down on the light grey, smooth stones of the water fountain.

"So, do you know if this is a one-off thing? Or…" Hope didn't dare voice her question out loud.

"It's not a one-off thing. In fact…" Dee averted her eyes.

Why did she avert her eyes?

"Hope, what if I told you that this is the opposite of a one-off thing?"

"Eh, what is the opposite of a one-off thing?"

Then a thought struck her. An awful, awful thought… What if Dee meant she was to stay here, permanently? Forever? She liked coming here. She loved spending time with her friends here… But she didn't want to be stuck here! Not with him prancing around.

"I can see from the look on your face you are arriving at all the wrong conclusions," Dee told her wryly. "But, there is something I have to tell you." She then sucked in a deep breath. Something Hope still considered a strange thing. Why would Death need to breathe anyway? She chucked it to the fact Dee was simply putting in a lot of effort to appear human.

"When my brother used his powers to fully heal you, that was all that was meant to happen. His power was meant to heal you and thus be consumed. What actually happened was, his power healed you and was mostly consumed, but a small portion of it lingers. When you returned to the waking world, that part wanted, for lack of a better word, to return to the Dreaming. This part of the Dreaming. The charming fact he had previously banned you from here, that's what was causing you… problems."

The words 'lingering' and 'previously banned' clanged over and over in her head. Hope was so confused, Dee might as well have spoken to her in a foreign language. Like Russian. Or German… Dutch.

"Previously?" That's the word Hope decided deserved the most immediate attention.

Dee gave her a beaming smile. "Oh yes. The ban has been lifted! You can come and visit here whenever you please!"

Finally! Success!

"As long as you make sure those visits never have more than a week between them."

What the devil?

"Why?"

"Because Dream's powers are still lingering inside of you. And…"

"And?" she prompted.

"And they will continue to linger. Indefinitely. You have to make sure to visit this part of the Dreaming, at least once a week."

The clap Hope gave was decidedly girlish, but she couldn't seem to help herself. "Dee! That is wonderful news! I get to visit my friends at least once a week! It's amazing! Why are you giving me that look? Isn't it amazing?"

"It is." Dee was quick to agree. She dragged a finger through the water in the fountain. Then she tipped back her head to gaze up at the stone nymph as though the lovely carved statue held all the answers to all of her questions.

"But, I think I should explain the indefinitely part. Because, in your situation, that's what it actually means. Indefinitely. Every time you visit, those lingering powers will do what they were originally meant to do. Heal you. Make you better if there are any underlying symptoms of illness. Heal even the slightest cut or bruise. Rejuvenate each and every cell in your body…"

"Wait…" Hope said when she thought she was beginning to understand. "You mean…"

"You're immortal now. Well, half immortal. You can still get killed in an accident. So, please, don't let this make you less vigilant. You're not really the most observant when you wander about."

A fraught silence ensued, Hope's breathing suspended as she mulled the consequences in her mind. She then thought on it some more. Then she smiled. "We'll be friends forever. Actually forever!"

Dee smiled back at her, but it was a small and vitreous little thing that did not light her eyes. "That's one way to look at it. Honestly though, you are happy with this?"

"Of course! Why wouldn't I be? Wait, aren't you?"

She was trying to find a reason for why her best friend was looking at her with that look in her eyes. Though she couldn't quite tell what that look was exactly–pity, sadness, melancholy, disappointment?–it did make her feel uneasy.

"Of course I am! Silly! Friends forever. It's just" – Dee averted her gaze and seemed to think hard, as though she were straining her brain with some mathematical problem – "earlier you didn't seem too thrilled by the prospect. When I, you know, tried to offer you–"

"Completely different situation, Dee! You were trying to offer me something I did not want to accept. Wait…"

She froze when a terrible idea formed in her head. Her breath left her abruptly as though someone had punched her in the gut. "Is this… Please, don't tell me this is–"

"It's not a boon, Hope! Seriously, what is it with you and that word? Please, tell me, because I would really like to be able to gift you things without you screeching about it like a banshee! And even if I were to offer you one, out of friendship, would that really be so offensive? What if I want to give you..."

Hope was glad Dee didn't finish that out loud. There was a brief silence as they sat, side by side. The stony nymph still spitting water. And the sun now little more but a fading thought. Like half a peach sinking in the water.

"I will gladly accept any gift you ever want to give me, Dee, but, I will never, ever, accept a boon and have your brother say, 'Ha, I knew it all along! An opportunist then, like all other mortals.' I'm not going to give him that satisfaction."

"Oh, come on. I know what a pain he can be, but–"

"I will not give him that satisfaction," she said, more forcefully this time. "But, if you insist on giving me something… I want a full sleep-over next time. You, me, 'Avatar' and a huge box of popcorn!"

It took a moment and Hope could also see it took her friend considerable effort to drop the subject, but finally Dee gave a mock-groan. "Avatar, again? Please, pick a different movie?"

"My gift, my choice, my friend. It's too bad there's no TV here. It would be so amazing if Lucienne could join us. Just imagine… Sleep-over party, the Dreaming style! Oh, oh, oh! A Dreaming movie night and sleep-over party!"

The mere prospect filled her with giddy glee, until she realised something. "Oh, no!" she groaned. "That would mean having to ask your brother for help and he would only get pissy about me using underhanded sneaky manipulations to get one of his precious boons!"

An awkward hush settled between them and Hope instantly knew the reason when she saw Dee struggling–no, battling!–a smile. It was right there in the way she forcefully kept her lips pressed together. But, they were trembling!

"He's standing right behind me, isn't he?"

She sighed in resignation.

Dream marched to the library with purposeful strides after his sister left to meet up with Hope. There was a brief-lived moment of regret when he recalled his order to have her room torn down. He did not like having to reconsider past actions.

"Lucienne!" he called out the moment the doors to the vast library effortlessly opened before him, granting him passage.

He could see her head snap up to attention from where she was sitting behind a desk. She dropped her pen, a small blob of ink leaking from the bib, but she paid it no attention. Instead, she swiftly rose to her feet and clasped her hands behind her back. Dream was brought up short when his trusted servant settled a cool gaze on him, her features steeled in carefully constructed neutral planes.

Dream knew that look well. It generally boded ill for the person it was directed at, so he felt a little uncertain, and also perversely curious, as to why she would deploy that look around him. Or rather, why she directed that look at him. "Hope Ericks has returned to the Dreaming." He kept his tone neutral. "From now on she will be a regular visitor. I would appreciate it if you would be willing to oversee the preparation for… new accommodations."

"In the same style as the rooms you had previously ordered destroyed, after you banished her from the Dreaming?"

It was a bit like having his nose swat to 'fend off' a fly.

"That banishment has been rescinded. I will leave leave the location and decorations up to you. You can inform Mervyn when you are ready. And Lucienne, I do not care for that particular tone."

The gaze Lucienne levelled at him was as cold and remote as a mountain glacier, and she gave a deep elaborate bow. "Your wish is my command, Your Highness."

With those words she breezed right past him and left him mulling his thoughts.

He did not much care for the glacial winds that howled between them either, but he could hardly reprimand her for being too polite.

Dream left the suddenly lacking ambience of the library and in a moderate tempo he walked back in the direction of the courtyard. A few things weighed on his mind and they all had to do with Hope Ericks.

Looking back on recent events, reflecting on how he had treated her, Dream felt troubled. Especially when, according to his sister, Hope had been a most loyal, trustworthy friend whom he had treated with contempt and suspicion. Even when he had tried to offer her a reward, to acknowledge…

His hand flat against the tall carved wooden doors that led towards the courtyard, Dream stood still, and hung his head.

A hot, troubling feeling expanded in his chest. He had offered her compensation in acknowledgement of her service to his ream. When he should have offered her the sun and moon and everything in between, out of undying gratitude for her selfless actions.

For the second time that day, he tortured himself with thoughts of that moment, when he was still trapped in that glass cage, when he had looked up at her with contempt.

Her fingers had been curled at her sides, her eyes wide with fear, her skin pale. Yet, when Jason had appeared behind her and whispered those vile, disgusting words to her, she had not been surprised. Afraid, yes. Surprised… no.

And she'd looked him in the eyes, had seen his wrath and for a reason he still could not fathom, her fear had subsided. She'd mouthed words of comfort to him, 'It's okay', when she knew what was about to happen to her.

Leaning his arm against the door, Dream rested his head upon it, wanting to block out every other sensation. Somehow, Hope had known how that scene in the basement would play out. Most of it anyway, because she had been surprised when Jason had stabbed her in the back.

Everything else though, she had anticipated or worse… planned.

Slowly, Dream lifted his head from his arm and he took a deep breath. He had to face the truth squarely, no matter how unpleasant it might be, and the truth was, he had treated Hope abominably.

Carefully, making sure not to make a sound, Dream pressed the doors open and he found them, not that far away, standing near the fountain with the water nymph.

His sister, dark-skinned and dark-haired, her fawn-brown eyes now alight with a contentment he hardly recognised in her. And in front of his sister, her back towards him, was Hope.

Though he knew it was absurd, he found it extremely difficult not to look at her as though she might suddenly come swinging at him or his sister with a battle axe. Even knowing his sister was an amazing judge of character, knowing that Hope had only acted with honour and perhaps more than just a little cheek, knowing he could never repay her selfless actions... still he kept expecting her to do something underhanded. And she had done absolutely nothing at all to earn such deplorable derision.

He wished he could see Hope the way his sister did. It would certainly make things easier. Especially now they would, unexpectedly, see a lot more of each other than either of them had expected. And yet, he didn't dare look too closely, because he knew that, whatever he'd find, it would wound him. Though he could no longer say whether he was afraid to find the sordidness he'd expected from the start, or something so wonderful it would bring him to his knees.

He at least allowed himself a moment to take in her appearance from a safe distance. He noted how her hair shone in the sunlight, the colour of the deepest, golden honey. As she moved and tilted her head while talking to his sister, he could see that her fair skin, with a hint of pink in her cheeks, had a healthy glow. And he already knew her eyes would be lively, bright and keen.

Looking at them, they both seemed to radiate more warmth than even the sun. And, even though Dream was not bothered by cold in the waking world, or his own realm, he could be bothered by the kind of cold that had been inflicted on him in Hell.

It was that cold he could suddenly feel biting inside of him that moment. So much so, he had to ball his hands to fists to keep him from cupping his hands around his mouth, and blowing a frosty breath into them to warm his inexplicably numb fingers. He felt inexorably drawn to the promise of the warmth and comfort to be had near them, and he carefully took a few steps to bring him closer.

Standing right behind Hope, he got distracted by a softly curling lock of hair that rested on her shoulder. The sun glinted off of it, giving it the shine of liquid gold. Before he could check himself, he was already reaching out his hand in wonder.

"Oh, oh, oh! A Dreaming movie night and sleep-over party!"

His hand froze mid-air when he noticed what he was doing. He clenched his fingers to a fist and slowly forced it down, at his side.

"Oh, no! That would mean having to ask your brother for help and he would only get pissy about me using underhanded sneaky manipulations to get one of his precious boons!"

An awkward hush settled between the two.

Then, "He's standing right behind me, isn't he?"

She gave such an audible sigh of resignation, Dream couldn't help but smile and said, "He is."

"See? Terrible timing," she mumbled more to his sister than to him. "May I ask where I can find Lucienne?"

"She is having a room prepared for you." He tried to sound as cordial as possible. "If she has not yet returned, you may wait for her in the library. Now that you are fully healed, you can travel the Dreaming the same way we do. All you have to do is think of where you want to go and–"

"Yes, I know! Lucienne already explained this to me when I wanted to–"

Her shortness of temper apparently caught them both off guard, even his sister gave her friend a puzzled look. Hope took a deep breath. "Never mind. Thanks. If you don't mind, I will leave you two and, eh, go find Lucienne." Her voice was a study in cool indifference.

She then quickly brushed past him, without even offering a parting greeting to his sister.

As though his head were attached to Hope by a string, Dream did a half turn and his gaze followed her as she walked away, briefly observing the play of her hips beneath the fabric of her olive fitted suede pants. He then turned his attention back to his sister. "How am I supposed to talk with her when she can't even bear to be in my presence?"

For a prolonged moment, she did not answer his question and merely studied him with the kind of scrutiny she knew made him feel uncomfortable.

"You have to give her some time, Dream." His sister clasped a hand to her cheek and gave him an empathic smile. "You can't expect her to suddenly like you."

"I should simply like to be on better terms with her."

"Why? I mean, she'll come around eventually, if you can stop acting like a boorish brute around her."

Her question had him disconcertingly dumbfounded. "Why? I am trying to comply to your request, my sister. Did you not ask me to make things right with your friend?"

"So I did. What I meant was, you could do something nice for her to show her your gratitude. You don't have to try and become her friend. I mean, you come, you go, you do exactly as you please. As you've always done. Nothing needs to change."

"You don't want me to get on friendly terms with Hope?" He failed to keep the surprise from his voice. His sister directed a tepid smile at him and she gave a brief shrug with her shoulders.

"I'm saying you don't need to bend yourself out of shape for it."

"Sister, I confess it has been quite challenging, to return after over a century of absence, and resume my role. I find it doesn't fit the way it did before. There are little changes I encounter each and every day and… I know you will not think any less of me when I confess I find it difficult to navigate them. Advise me, how do you want me to resolve things with Hope?"

"Oh, Dream." His sister huffed out a sigh and she wrapped an arm around him. "You have to follow your own path. If you want to get to know her, want to talk with her, then do it. If you can't really be bothered, then don't. I only have one request."

He smiled and turned out of her embrace so he could take her hands in his. He always marvelled at how warm she could make her skin feel. It was something he never really bothered with.

"Anything for you, my sister."

"Don't do anything to hurt her."

The request completely bowled him over. "What makes you say that?"

His sister patted his hand and she looked up at him with warm eyes. "Because she's beautiful. And I know you."

Why, oh why, did the Library of Dreams have to be such a vast place? There were levels upon levels, stretching into infinity, where emptiness now echoed through every corridor. The familiar space, however, now seemed devoid of life, silence reigning supreme amidst the elaborate wooden book stacks that lined the walls, stretching from floor to ceiling.

In stark contrast to Lucienne's comforting presence, who was always at hand, especially when needed, Hope found herself now confronted by the eerie stillness and absence of any presence at all. The rows of books stood as silent sentinels, only underlining the emptiness that now penetrated the library with its caretaker and librarian away.

Each step she took amplified the feeling of isolation and abandonment, for some strange reason. It was completely absurd, but, Hope felt as if that moment she were the sole person in a vast, forgotten realm of forgotten dreams.

"Lucienne?" she called out. Like that was going to work in a place like this…

She cupped her hands around her mouth and yelled, "Lucienne?"

"You called?"

With a highly undignified shriek, Hope whirled around, hand clutched over her heart.

"Seriously? Are you trying to give me a heart-attack? Even though, apparently, I'm quite safe of that ever happening in this place."

Her friend cast her a semi-serious look over the rim of her glasses, but Hope noticed the tell-tale tension around her lips and that almost imperceptible little tug at one of the corners. Lucienne rolled back her shoulders and, keeping her hands clasped to her back, she gave Hope a gracious little smile.

"It is good to see you back again, Hope Ericks."

For a moment, a lengthy awkward moment, Lucienne had her fooled. Until very slowly, a broad smile broke over her face, very briefly showing her pearly whites with the neat little gap between her front two teeth.

Without waiting, Hope launched herself at her friend and tightly wrapped her arms around the other woman. "Ah, Lucienne! I missed you, so so much! How have you been? Things must have been terribly boring without me here!"

"Things are well. And although the library was oddly quiet without your presence, I cannot say it has been boring. I've been far too busy!"

Not the euphoric reunion Hope had expected.

"Lucienne? You are not hugging me back and it makes me feel very awkward. What's wrong? What did I say? What did I do?"

"Nothing is wrong. You didn't say anything wrong and you didn't do anything wrong either. I merely wish to present you with something. But, with you clinging to me like a limpet, I can't give it to you."

"Present me with something?" Hope instantly let go and she actually took a little step back when Lucienne quickly snapped her arms forward, holding something up between her hands. It looked like a book. A beautiful, candy apple read, leather-bound book, with graceful gilded letters stamped across the leather and decorated with tiny gilded hearts.

Persephone: Hades' Torment.

It would have been nice to say that she managed to take it with the appropriate reverence, but Hope practically tore the book from her friend's hands and stared at it, wide-eyed and refusing to blink.

"I hope you like it. It's a little welcome back gift. Not that you can take it with you to the waking world, but…"

It took her a moment before she could breathe normally again. And there might be a fierce battle going on not to break down and cry. Because she couldn't quite recall when someone had last bothered to get her a gift. No one mortal, anyway.

Hope opened the book. It turned out to be a graphic novel and the cutesy wholesome artwork snatched her breath away. She leafed through it and when she came to a page depicting Hades crumpled to the floor, his long dark hair spilling between his fingers, a nice collection of Eros' arrows sticking from his back, Hope knew she would devour this book.

"She deserves one of your damned bright-eyed Olympians! Not– Not this. Not… me."

Oh, God! Swoon!

She leafed to near the end of the book, took a brief glance at the art, and instantly her cheeks erupted with a flaming heat and no doubt a very scarlet colour. She quickly slapped the book shut and she found Lucienne looking at her with a smile that was both expecting and a little wicked.

"Luci-enne!" Hope whispered, slowly, and in complete shock and awe.

"I thought you might like it." Her friend sounded quite smug and a little bit full of herself.

"Okay, I am going to hug you again and please hug me back this time?"

And Lucienne did. Very tightly, in fact. "I missed you too, Hope. Very much."

They broke apart and Hope wiped at the dampness around her eyes. "Best gift ever!"

"Come on, I'll show you to your new room. You can, eh, store away your new book. And then we could catch up for a bit?"

"I would love to!"

Her room turned out to be much different from the last one. No more high-to-the-heavens ceiling, but a very cosy looking cottage style bedroom, complete with open fireplace!

Holding the graphic novel against her midriff, Hope splayed her fingers over the leather cover with its gilded lettering and heaved a happy sigh seeing her new room.

A certain black raven decided to make an appearance that moment. He flew into the room and he tried to land on Hope's arm, but she crossed her arms instead and pursed her lips.

"I did not invite you into my bedroom, Matthew!" she hissed at him. "Now, go away or… or…" she thought for a moment. "…or I'll smack you with this book!"

Matthew perched on the back of a plush looking club chair. "You would do that to your friend Matthew?" He opened his wings in a 'hey, it's me!' kind of gesture.

She thought, but for a very brief moment. "I would!" she then said decidedly. "You are his raven and he is not one of my most favourite people right now. And neither is his raven!"

"What did I do?" Matthew complained. "You're acting as if I was the one who banished you from this place!"

"You didn't, but you do answer to him. Lucienne told me he uses his Ravens as his eyes and ears. So, shoo!"

"He's not watching right now!"

When Hope threatened to throw the book at him, Matthew quickly flapped his wings and got out of the way. He flew out of the room with an indignant caw.

With a sigh, Hope stumbled towards the club chair and flopped down.

"Was that really necessary?" Lucienne asked her, one brow hiked way up.

"No," Hope grumbled. "It was not. I was rude. I'll find him later and apologise. Right now, I'm still angry."

"He did lift the banishment, Hope."

No need to ask who she meant with 'he'.

"Only because I will die otherwise and that will make Dee pissed with him forever. In other words, he doesn't have a lot of choice."

"True, but instead of partitioning off a small locked room for you to reside in until you go back to the waking world, he allows us to see each other and spend time together."

Hope groaned when she noticed Lucienne's strict teacher look aimed at her. "He could have done that? Of course he could have done that."

"Can't you cut him a little bit of slack?" Lucienne moved her thumb and index-finger very, very close together, to show off the teeny tiny amount she meant. "He did spent over a century trapped in a glass prison after all. I believe he's allowed some leeway when it comes to his, eh, moods?"

"Ugh, fine! You want me to apologise to him too?"

"No, but, can you at least try and behave cordially around him?"

Well, he had been rather decent from the moment he'd spawned them into the Dreaming. But she still severely felt the disappointment at finding out just how insignificant she'd been to him. And the fact that he'd not even properly thanked her for what she'd done for him. And the fact he'd tried to reward her ambition and resourcefulness with a stupid boon!

Even if she'd done all that primarily for his sister, that didn't mean he should act like an ungrateful prick.

An idea struck and she smiled.

"Lucienne, you are absolutely right! I suddenly feel the need to thank him. How about… a fruit basket? Does he like those? Fruit baskets?"

Her friend gave her a look of complete bewilderment. "A… fruit… basket?" She said as though she were trying out those words, tasting them, sampling them.

"Oh yes, it's one of those, eh, mortal customs. Come on, Lucienne. Show me to the kitchens. There is a kitchen here, right? I mean, how else would you eat?"

"Well, eh, Lord Morpheus does keep the pantries stocked by lifting fresh produce straight from dreams. He seems to like it when sleeping chefs use the kitchen and dream up entire banquets."

"Wonderful!"

Not fifteen minutes later, a ridiculously fancy basket was sat on the throne. It had all the works, even a flashy, canary-yellow satin bow was neatly wrapped around it. And inside the basket?

Lemons! Lemons, in all their sour glory. And if that wasn't zesty enough, there was a bottle of vinegar in there too.

Lucienne's expression didn't exactly scream amusement. The way her lips pressed together said it all. But, she kept her thoughts to herself, and a wave of pure lightness washed over Hope. The kind she hadn't felt in weeks.