Completely detached from both the clan and herself, Yuuka strolled along an endless blood-stained river-- sole company mirroring her along the other end. Yuuki walked step for step with the girl, both of them fractions of what they once were. Although fatigue was clearer on the angel's face rather than her own, Yuuka felt herself withering away, each foot throbbing as it landed on new grounds.
The path they found themselves on was quite leveled, Yuuka only ever tripping after her own feet. Yuuki stumbled, too, but never in moments to parallel her own clumsiness. However, the girl could hardly hear the angel from across the water, and instead relied on her facial expressions to guide their way.
'Are you okay?'
'I'm concerned.'
'What's wrong?'
'I'm here.'
Assumptions, sure. But after walking for so long together, she felt like she knew her better now. Even when the stream led further up to a lake, she still knew Yuuki was following the opposite way, ready to meet back at the other riverside.
Yuuka rubbed at her eyes, having stared for too long into the gleaming water. It truly burned to look at, as if she were staring at the sun itself within its reflection. But the few times she saw past it- and she would swear it up and down that she could- the castle below grew closer as they walked. Was it because they were following along the cobblestone? Did the water lead down to some hidden entrance?
Maybe Takuto would appear ahead of her again tonight, telling her to turn around. She hated that he would never explain himself, only insist upon it with a scowl.
Yuuki was no better-- Takuto never told her to leave. He never even looked her way.
If he was so concerned over Yuuka, then what about Yuuki? She had always cared about her.
In this space within Limbo, where the effortlessly natural fog sets in, it wouldn't be unusual for a fisherman to be found at the water's edge.
It would not be much longer until Yuuka have spotted a lone shelter on her side of the river. There was a trail of neatly placed rocks and meticulously kept flowbeds for yards and yards from it welcoming a pit-stop on her journey if she so chose. At the end, a house made of cobble, and a young boy outside. Smoke blew from the chimney up into the air and, just as effortlessly, was sucked back once again into the house. With each successive breath, the pile of smoke grew greater, but never seemed to reach a limit in its growth.
The boy was fixated with this chimney. He looked up at it in deep worry continuing to swat the hair out of his face over and over again.
"No, no, no," his trembling voice denoted his frustration. "That's not right!" He held in his one hand a grapevine broom which he desperately tried to swat away the smoke with, but he was nowhere near tall enough to catch it. After a few futile swings, he sighed, gently placing the broom down in exchange for a watering can. "No, no....not today. Not the day when we have guests the first time in years! How unsightly! how unseemly!" He continued to mutter in an unintelligible hum as he quickly darted over to his wooden pier overlooking the water below. He gently held the watering can above the flooring for precisely three and a half seconds counting diligently: "onetwothrrreee...." and snapping the water back up.
Promptly, moonflowers sprouted from the wood, overtaking the whole pier. A severe moment of relief ushered a contented smile from Yukai, before:
"O-oh. Oh dear. No, no, no. That doesn't belong either!"
It would be as he was prone, ripping each of the individual flowers out of the planks of wood that he might have noticed Yuuka.
"EEEKKKK!" he screamed as he turned around bringing one arm to cover his face. His butt landed amongst the misplaced flowers before he could recognize who was there.
Hands immediately raised to her mouth as she kept herself from laughing. In her monotonous journey along the riverside, the startled young man was a welcomed shift from such a tiring dream. She couldn't keep herself from wandering onto the planks, her footsteps echoing from her weight.
"You should keep the flowers. They might bloom into roses, someday." As she stopped herself from laughing and opted to a light bit of chuckling, she offered a hand to help him up. Yuuka couldn't help from the goofy smile on her face, when Yukai was as equally goofy in her dream.
"And then bloom into tulips. And- or maybe into daffodils! Wouldn't that be lovely? A different flower every season? No, wait, per moon. Every other moon, I think." She nodded, each type of flower generously sprouting beside the moonflowers, and where those plucked should've been. "You could always paint the leaves, if you don't like the color. Or at least, that's what I was told. Haven't tried it yet."
Yukai's hands slowly retreated from his face, carefully considering taking the hand outstretched to him before remembering all of the horrible germs that might lay on them. In a small reflex of disgust, he dusted off his tattered clothes and straightened himself upright in an ungraceful bounce to his feet.
"Yes...yes, I suppose you are right..." he muttered, "They could be any number of flowers. Maybe I was too caught up in the placement and not the value they could add to the pier regardless.You have such a way with these things! That's why..." Yukai paused as if suddenly recalling the true reason for his visit to her dream.
"Yuuka, the fog has set in. The time between where anticipation runs high...my heart races thinking about it.that's why i don't very much...."He trailed off for but a moment before continuing.
"W-well, to the point. er, more to the point I mean. Well really the point of it all was, ehh, all might be a bit too dramatic a word...ehem.
Why are you walking this road? Are you doing so alone? You seemed lonely, I could hardly just watch it."
As Yukai regained his confidence in so speaking, the chimney seemed to correct itself all on its own. Within a blink of an eye, the flowers found themselves in the correct flowerbed beside his abode as though nothing unusual had happened in the first place.
Curling her hand back to her chest, she took a step back from the dream walker as he stood without her assistance.
She brushed her hand into her hair, playing with the long and straightened black locks as she listened to him. He did take awhile-- she considered starting on a braid.
"I'm not alone."
Fighting to get a hand out of a knotted section of hair, she pointed across the river. A woman, unseen for years, and yet still obscured by the thickening fog as a friend finally appears. "I was on this side, for awhile. But you're here. And she's there, even if she doesn't say hello. She says other things, sometimes." With her free hand, she gives a wave to the silhouette across the way, to no response whatsoever, nor movement.
"The fishermen were singing: A sword 'o great, a sword we take, cast it down below. O' high, o' high... um... something, something. Well, it sounded special, so I wanted to find it." She frowned, brushing her hair in front of her mouth. "They made it sound all magical and special, but I think Takuto hid it somewhere. He keeps telling me not to find it. Is it in your house?"
Yukai's gaze followed Yuuka's hand to see a vague figure of someone. He would not even have known it was a woman if Yuuka had not mentioned it. Determined to get a better look at the woman in the fog, he squinted and strained his vision across the river to no avail. Frowning, he scratched his cheek in thought. "She? I can hardly see. She seems to be-" he interrupted his own train of thought with a gasp of inspiration. "Oh! Of course, of course."
poof!
Into the Dream's hand, a monocle appears from a cloud of smoke. He fumbled with it for a moment before bringing it to his good eye. He squints once again.
"No, no. I still can't." A frustrated sigh, he throws the monocle up into the air and it poofs away as quickly as it came. "Ehhh...is she your friend? S-she is kind of creepy, Yuuka." A worried Yukai wondered about her relationship to the figure. The fog, the blood...there was some significance to it. He could not quite place his finger on it, but there was a chance he and Yuuka had more in common than he had assumed.
And she was fueled by the spirit of adventure, too! Perfect. He could work with this. "Oh, a sword! Yes, special. Very special. Yes..." he muses as he paces briefly. "I suppose it could be in my house, but I am not sure if Takuto could get in there. Or why he would hide it with me in any case..."
grumble, grumble. Mumble, mumble. Yukai began to pace in thought. Was this sword a real thing? Or could he pull out any old sword and Yuuka would be contented? There was a chance the dream could help. He knew nothing of this sword or the fishermen who did. Perhaps Akurai did, but he dared not invite the nightmare to consume Yuuka's dream. There was always the chance that the sword was no Real Thing, and in which case, Yukai should have no difficulty producing it to Yuukas standards. It always filled him with such panic when the dreamer had some sort of goal. Like a game master wanting to satisfy their player, he felt as though the onus was on him to somehow produce this sword he did not know the name off. How stressful.
Unlike his sister, though, it was always his philosophy to tell these sorts of stories with proper suspense. A rising action, a climax, a finale. Except, sometimes they wake up before he can even get to the finale... how incredibly frustrating it can be to create a story never to be seen.
"Very well," he resolved, "You may come inside for a bit, Yuuka. I am certain we will find something to help you find this sword there. I will make you some tea as well while we are here!" He adjusts his eye patch vaguely before straightening his posture and knocking on the wood of the shack before them. As he does so, it slowly creaks open to reveal the inside of the building.
A cramped rectangle of a building, it would've been easy to point out the incongruence of the shape of the kitchen with the frame of the building outside if this were anything but a dream. A single marble table highlighted the center of the room with four excellent comfy chairs. Sitting in any one of them, the warmth of the fireplace beside would instantly relax even the most tense of muscles. Yukai pulls one out for the host of the dream with a humble nod and gentle smile. The room was lit up only by the fire wrapping around the two in a warm embrace.
…And from the room seemingly miles down the hallway to their left. From the door exuded lights of all colors, even those usually unseen by the eye. It was obnoxious, inconsistent, and ruined the whole setting of the Fisherman’s Shack, so Yukai told her to keep her room far, far away. Especially when guests were over. Irritated, he grumbled and sighed for a minute before ultimately deciding to ignore it. Maybe Yuuka wouldn’t even notice it if he didn’t draw attention to it, and hopefully, they would just be in and out the door.
“You may sit here. I can find– well, I need you to tell me more about the sword first…or maybe, what it is at least. Er, you mentioned Takuto, but…” he continued to ramble with a thumb on his chin.
“Well, before all of that, would you like some tea? I can have El-, I can brew some if you would like. Whatever flavor you want!” Of this, he was confident. Tea was his forte and he would dream about it every single night without fail.
"Not green tea, is it?" A weary Yuuka eyed the walking dream, interested in his offer. She'd follow him regardless, brushing her hand on the wooden structure before entering Yukai's domain.
She took his invitation to sit and waddled over to one of the comfy chairs, sitting down and pulling her legs up for a comfier seat. It might not have been proper manners, but she gazed up innocently enough to cue that she didn't quite think of any etiquette in the first place.
"Anything but green tea. Or white tea. Or oolong. None of those are any good." She sighed, her face tensing in disgust as if the words themselves held their flavors. "But how do you find something to help find a sword? Do you use your monocle again? Even the fishermen said that it's legendary." A yawn immediately followed the thought as she settled further into her chair, beginning to relax. Heavy eyelids flickered open- even through a dream- just to watch the dreamwalker mosey about his home. "Maybe it's locked away in a church somewhere. That's usually where heroes in stories get their weapons, I think. Holy places, or from a nasty monster's insides... What if it's inside a dragon?"
"Whatever tea you wish for, dear," Yukai mused, "hmmm... I imagine you would want something sweet like this."
With a snap of his finger, a small plate with a cup of karak tea appears in his right palm. He turns to Yuuka with an awkward, genuine smile on his face. He pinches his fingers and a fine dust makes its way into the drink. A mix of cinnamon and sugar, he stopped adding after three pinches exact. Although it was the case that he could alter the flavor without the need for showmanship, that magic was part of the experience in his opinion and he had hoped Yuuka might agree too. He set down the tea before the girl.
"Wait for it to heat up before drinking it, Yuuka. Yes, it certainly will taste better that way." It would as soon as the creature made its appearance, but she was fickle and might take a moment to come along. In the meantime, Yukai continued over to the chest beside the fireplace as he listened to Yuuka who was apparently getting cozy in his chair. He was pleased to see her getting so comfortable. "Certainly, I will find something in here, dear Yuuka. Yes. This chest is filled to the brim with all of the Things and Thoughts you might imagine! No monocle needed." he pulls out two toy swords one after another, followed by a bowl of four goldfish. He inspected them intently before putting them back in the chest. Hopefully, Yuuka didn't notice.
"Hmm...a church? Perhaps..." he continued to ruffle around in the chest until he found something of import - a map seemingly blank across its length. Ecstatic, Yukai jumps up with a clap of his hands and returns to the table. Out of the corner of the eye, he spots her waddling her way over from the hallway too.
"Oh, Ellie!" He shouts. It couldn't have been bigger than the palm of his hand. The little pink dragon flapped its wings furiously, taking flight over to Yukai. He gives it a few scratches along its neck before introducing it. "Oh, speaking of dragons, Yuuka, please meet my pet Ellie. Ellie, our guest has some tea."
With a quick nod, the dragon flies over to the table and perches itself beside the tea. An eeny-bitty stream of flame comes from the dragon's mouth, barely enough to warm the tea before her. He holds up a finger for a moment before exclaiming, "Perfect! Now, feel free to drink."
He takes a seat beside her creating a small cup of tea for himself. As the dragon heated up his cup, Yukai explained, "In my house, the absurd becomes reality, Yuuka. If you can imagine the place where the sword is, we may well create a route forward with this map. Now, I want you to imagine the fishermen. As you begin to see them in your mind, recall your quest for the sword. Surely, they will show us the way then. That way will be transcribed here for us to follow.Oh, thank you, Ellie. Go see if Yume wants some as well. Understood?"
As soon as little Ellie flew her way over to the girl, she had to resist the urge to pull at one of its wings. Not that she wanted to stop it from flying-- even if she felt the strange urge as to rip them off, to tear them into thin pieces like paper, and then to sprinkle them into the tea akin to the magical dust he had just presented to her. No, wait, that would hurt the poor creature. Why would she want that?
Her hands cupped at the heated glass, hazy eyes gazing into the murky reflection of tea. Where was she?
"Drink?"
Yuuka almost forgot the Dream was there with her. It'd only been a moment, but Ellie had reminded her of another time and place, back when her own wings were clipped. She missed flying. Then again, she didn't remember flying, either. What was she supposed to be doing? Right, drink. She'd do that.
After inhaling a whiff of the scent, she took a cautious sip, expecting it to be like all the teas Yuuki had. Cruelty, to keep the host away, whereas this cup was exquisite. It didn't burn her as she assumed it would, drinking from it so suddenly-- and it was sweet enough to suit her particular pallet. She relaxed in her chair, an anxiety she hadn't noticed creeping at her immediately fading away.
"The Fishermen said it might be in the Castle with the Queen. Wouldn't it be at the bottom of the river, then? Can the map help us hold our breath?"
Her eyes fixated themselves on Ellie as she squinted, wishing she had her old set of clay to color with. She might've tried to draw the creature, but then again, they were on a mission.
As he waved away Ellie, Yukai looked at Yuuka with worried eyes as she...drifted off? Or something to that akin. It was clear something was bothering her even in the dream. He gulped at the thought. He would've hated for her dream to end before he could help her find the sword. For Yukai, it was a prideful thing to keep all things in order and craft a coherent narrative throughout the dream. Who better would serve as a guide for-
her.
Yukai stops for a moment and looks at the ceiling, motionless. It was as though he had shut down for a moment before jolting his eyes open again. A brief slumber.
When he awoke, he returned to the map on the table placing himself close to Yuuka's left side with a giddy smile on his face. "This map, Yuuka," he began, "Will show us a secret way through the river. With this map I know this place as well as the fishermen themselves! Yes, yes. I will know exactly where to find your sword. Now finish your tea. We must be off, Miss Kokoro!" The dream snatches his own tea quickly downing it a couple of sips and throwing the cup into the air whimsically only for it to disappear into a puff of smoke. "Enough of the fluff," he thought, "Enough of the tea. Enough of the dream." This map could guide them through the rivers through the world of dreams in a way that waking souls could not. It would take a dream itself to successfully trod to forbidden planes, but it would not have been The Dream's first time. But would they be able to end up at their destination? It was a coin toss.
That brief pause was registered with Yuuka, yet disregarded as he came to. She'd been sipping at her tea, her focus elsewhere until he closed the distance between them.
"It's that easy?"
With a bit of skepticism, she gave him an up-and-down glance before finishing out her own cup and tossing it up in the same way as he had, assuming that it would disappear without incident. Well, even if it hadn't, she figured that he could clean up its mess with the same magic that he had presented to her.
After unfurling herself from her awkward sitting position, she stood up and yawned, tired out by the other's energy. Was her quest that exciting? She couldn't even really remember why she was looking for the sword, other than to show up Takuto. If it wasn't in the Castle, then maybe the map could lead them to a church with the sword. But he seemed so certain about knowing the way to its placement, was she missing something?
As she threw her glass to the ground, it slammed with force so great, it fractured into tiny of millions of pieces. The shattered glass was eternally stained with the faint bits of tea splattered onto the more visible pieces consuming it from the inside out. The Nightmare looked at it with a brief scoff, but elected to keep it there.
"It's that easy," Yukai's voice was devoid of his usual cheer. "You can trust me. Completely. And then...you will be where you want."
He extended his hand to Yuuka with a smile on his face. If she had noticed, his eyes had completely changed color.
"You must decide how far we swim. This place is yours after all," he sighs, "but then, I will route us directly to the Castle. And, you can find your sword. And! You will return a triumphant hero. What a fun quest." He suppresses a giggle. "If you are feeling tired, I will carry you on my back through the waters. Just be sure to keep breathing. Wouldn't want you to drown on accident now would we?"
If she had noticed, Yuuka probably wouldn't have taken his hand. But she was too distracted, much too tired, and oh-so tempted to finally get her hands on the sword than consider the offer. While she didn't quite remember why she wanted it, she realized that didn't matter. She was on an adventure now-- at least, that's what the Dream had been leading her to believe. And without the ability to see Yuuki, without being able to confirm it with her all these plans, it sounded like a plan. Really, she needed one of those. Shame it was a Nightmare to fix one for her.
"Okay, Yukai. But you breathe, too. And we have to tell Yuuki that we know where it is. She can probably meet us in the middle of the river, but-- oh, she probably doesn't like to swim, though." She groaned, "I can swim, could you carry her instead?"
He greedily takes Yuuka's hand and pulls her from her chair into an embrace. He hums a certain tune as he hastily pulls her by the hand to the river. He suppresses his giggles occasionally as they begin their descent into the water. He looks around to see if Yuuki would join them. He had hoped and expected her too. After all, what was the point of all this effort if she didn't?
"There is no need for any swimming at all, Yuuka," he hid his annoyance, "Just let me take care of the details now. I can carry you or her, whichever you wish. I have made this journey a countless number of times, so you can trust me to get you there!" Although, now that he thought about it, he had never heard of this sword that Yuuka was looking for. Not that it really mattered, but according to the map, it did truly exist within the Castle. He couldn't help but be a little bit curious.
With each step deeper they took into the river, the dream around them would collapse. Each movement of their feet would crumble Yukai's house more and more until finally, their heads were submerged. All that was left was the rubble of the dream's house above, and the tea, desperately chasing the two into the river to provide warmth and protection. "Do be careful of the persuasion of the fishermen, Yuuka," he pointed out, "They will not lead you to the castle even if they claim they will. Stick close to me. Hold my hand if you need to."
Now, he would have to be careful to keep his attention on the map. Poor navigation could lead to disasters of all sorts. One time, he had taken a wrong turn on step three hundred and twenty-four and found himself feeling the pain of impalement again for thirty years straight! The spears dug around just beneath the skin and pulled at his viscera like chopsticks. As excellent as that might sound, at this moment, he had a guest to escort down and that level of pain might just wake her. No, no, she needed to remain in the haze a little bit longer. "What an idiot," he thought. "What a complete dunce! Ehehehe!"
Soon, he could finally destroy the facade of the dream. Soon could he be rid of the act of "Yukai."
While the building crumbled slowly, the distant land that she walked within was much quicker to disintegrate entirely. As if an explosion had set things in motion ever since they had entered the river: only momentarily pulling themselves back, warning them not to go further, before increasingly, urgently rushing the two deeper in.
Oceanic eyes searched desperately for Yuuki, the girl's hands clinging tighter to the illusion of a Dream. Where was she?
The water obstructed the past surface's sight, swirling around the two as if there was no need for the map as a guide at all. It insisted, pushing them further in with a rush, a whirlpool transporting the two. The Nightmare needed only to watch, and if he paid attention past the rushing waters, notice the ragged souls getting dragged down on the fishermen's hooks.
After the stream of crimson deposited them in the Castle, spears and longarms of grandeur lined the walls, chests assumedly holding similar weaponry themselves. Many smaller pedestals held up shiny, reflective weapons, mirroring the light cast down from the numerous windows orderly placed around the room. It was eerily quiet, however; not a soul nor demon in sight. Perhaps behind either door at each end of the golden hall, there could be some. Imps, demons, or other beings...
Yuuka's chest heaved as she tried to breath. She felt weighted somehow, without anything actually changing but her surroundings. Letting go of Yukai, she clutched at her shirt, burning. Using the Dream to keep herself steady, she squinted around the room, her eyes dry, wanting to shut completely.
"I thi-"
A deafening blast cut her off, the room shaking as the hung up weapons rattled.
███ ████ ████ █ ██ ███ ██████
A muffled shout vibrated against the walls, only to finish with a shrill, cut-off scream. Yuuka stood gasping, eyes wide where the sound had echoed. She found her.
"Yukai, Yukai, we can't." She heaved, reaching to pull him. "This is a bad quest."
