A Nightmare by Day

[Fell]

The endearments didn\'t phase Journey at all. It was nice that they existed! By the same token, though, Journey didn\'t take them to mean anything special. It was an expectation of his, for people to use them. He used them often. "Dove" was his favourite. Still, something was definitely bothering Illusion.

Journey hugged her close, feeling a slight nervousness now. "What do you do?" he asked, the emotion creeping into his voice. Did she drive an SUV? Was that it? Maybe it was that she ate meat! It would make Journey uncomfortable, but he\'d had omnivorous friends before. He just asked that they didn\'t do it around him, or if they did, that they keep it... subtle. No steak dinners or anything.

To Illusions insistence that he was a Nightmare, Journey just shrugged. "Okay," the little Nightmare said out loud, smiling at her. Everyone was entitled to their own opinion. Lots of people were convinced he was all human, and some insisted that he was a shifter, and still others told him he was some kind of a unicorn. None of it really bothered the silver-haired boy, since none of it really effected what he was, what he did or how he felt. If Illusion wanted to call him a Nightmare, that was okay by him. Other people had called him worse before, anyway.

Besides, for Journey, being a hippie with hooves was the whole of it. What else could matter?

[Wrakune]

She no longer cared if he acknowledged her sweet nothings, but only that he didn’t seem to understand what she was saying. He held her tightly now and she sensed his nervousness. She held him as well, equally as tight.

He asked her what she did. No, she thought, that’s not fair. I don’t want to scare him away from me . . . but he must know. She sighed and began to speak, but she only managed a whisper.

“Journey, please do not fret. What I am about to tell you, you will not want to hear. I torture people, humans, in their sleep. I am a hunter and a thief. I enter the minds of the unknowing and destroy their dreams. They become restless and I laugh. Their dreams become raging visions of terror and bane. There is no good present when I enter one’s unconscious.” Illusion was crying again. She knew he would hate her for this and voiced this concern saying, “Do not hate me, my love. I cannot change what I am. I am far too gone for the life I wish I could return to.”  Her voice was shaky and miniscule. She wondered if he heard her.

She thought of something else, "And the worst part of all of this is that you do not believe you are like me. You don\'t think as I do. Your thoughts are pure, mine center around anguish and menacing images that would petrify any normal person.” She could barely speak. Her eyes were swollen with tears and she tightened her grip around his middle. He was her only comfort and she knew he could sense that.

[Fell]

Journey\'s face went from "concerned" to "horrified" at the word "torture". Ohmygodohmygodohmygod, he thought, unable to conceive of someone willingly and repeatedly doing such a thing. It was like the words were stuck on repeat in his mind. What was worse was he... he liked this girl and she - !

The young nightmare felt as though he were about to be sick. Journey\'s head felt too light, and he heard a pounding in his ears. To him, Illusions admission really was that bad. He let out a choked sob, bringing one hand to his mouth as he stared at her in horror. Didn\'t she know that she was only torturing herself every time she ruined someone\'s dreams? Didn\'t she know she was contributing to the global overproduction of negative energy?

And didn\'t she know that he couldn\'t do that? Journey couldn\'t hate her. He couldn\'t tell her that at the moment, being too occupied crying to make words, but he couldn\'t hate her. All the same, Journey just... didn\'t think they could be friends. Not if she was spending her nights terrorising people. Journey had physical trouble being around such people.

Maybe she can change? No one wants to do that, not really... Journey thought, though he still couldn\'t look at her straight. Even Illusion had said "the life she wished she could return to". No one was too far gone to return, even her! She\'d just... need to really try.

Finally, Journey\'s own crying got under control enough for him to talk. "Y-you can\'t do that to people! Don\'t you kn-now that every time you hurt s-someone else, you\'re just hurting yourself too? W-we\'re all connected!" he choked out, the hitches in his speech repressed sobs. Journey had to get this message across. He desparately wanted to help Illusion, but for that, she needed to be willing to be helped. "You c-can still change! There is no t-too late," he went on, wiping his eyes. And now he had to tell her the hard part.

"I-I\'m sorry," Journey began, but he burst into tears again as soon as he said it. He took a couple moments to collect himself before continuing. "But I don\'t th-think we can be friends if... if you keep doing that. I w-won\'t hate you, but I c-can\'t..." Journey had done pretty well until he had to actually think about Illusions words again. Oh well. He could cry now. He\'d said what he needed to, and now the ball was in Illusion\'s court.

[Wrakune]

She\'d hurt him and she saw it in his eyes. Oh! And the pain in his voice was excruciating!

He\'d said they couldn\'t be friends if she kept doing what she lived only to do. How could he expect that of her. She wanted to stop more than anything.

Didn\'t he understand? No. He couldn\'t understand how she felt. That was impossible. He couldn\'t comprehend the sheer torture of watching one\'s mother die in a puddle of her own blood. To watch the life leave her eyes. To watch the man who killed her walk away. No, he could never understand that. For this, she forgave him.

His tears hit her harder than his words. She was bad. A horrible person.

She clung to him as they wept together and she whispered softly to him, "Let me show you what you are. I want you to see what I\'ve seen. Then tell me to change. I want to change. Maybe if you could see it, you would know how hard it is. Maybe," by now she was speaking to herself more than to him, "just, maybe, you can help me change."

Her body shuddered and she collapsed against him. If he would just trust her, she could show him. "Trust me, Journey," she whispered, almost inaudibly. If he had been human, he may have not heard her. She waited for his descision.

[Fell]

She was asking him to see what she\'d described. Journey\'s body went numb at the thought. Watching someone trip and scrape their knee could make him cry; the Nightmare didn\'t think he could watch someone die.

But Illusion had. She had, and now she was like this. Journey wasn\'t sure what that meant. Did watching someone die make you want to hurt other people? If it did, he definitely didn\'t want to see it. He was responsible for bringing more good into the world! That was his job! And if he turned into a bad person, he\'d totally bring everyone down with his bad vibes... That would be terrible.

Journey had to try to stop crying before he could speak. Finally, he managed it. "I d-don\'t think I c-c-can do that f-for you.... I\'m s-so sorryyyy!" Journey managed to get out. He needed to pull himself together for another couple seconds before going on. "B-but I w-want to try to-to help an-nyway. Will y-you let me?" the silvery-haired boy asked, eyes all pain and hope and apology.

There had to be a way to help her. Had to be a way to get her to change without Journey having to watch people die and maybe become a huge bummer. He\'d just... have to find it first.

[Wrakune]

Illusion was distraught. For some resason, Journey was the only person she\'d evr met that it caused her pain to see him hurting. Never before had anyone else\'s pain not given her pleasure.

"Of course I will let you help." She voiced her earlier thoughts about his pain and wondered how he\'d react.

She suddenly felt, as she looked at him and waited on his answer, that she might be falling in love with him. She felt her heart softening inside her and the rage that had welled up for so long seemed to fade when he touched her. Cliche though it may seem, she had never felt like that before.