Just a Dream (Monroe x Adaryn)

[Lux]

Honestly, Adaryn hadn't really spoken to anybody in her new school since she had the incident in the common room, and she didn't really like thinking of the moment she almost lost her composure because of the anger radiating off of the boy. She hated her power with a passion because it just overwhelmed her life, causing her to do things that she never thought she would ever do until recently.

So now, she found herself in the one place she knew wouldn't be so bad for her. She was in the library, reading anything she could find on the shelf, barely even paying attention to the words on the pages. Adaryn was practically dosing off at this point, and eventually, she did.

-----------------------------------------

Adaryn's eyes opened up slowly, and she found herself on a soft ground, and as she looked around, she noticed she was lying in grass, trees looming up around her. She wondered where she was, and as she stood up, her foot hit something hard. The book she was reading lay on the ground beside her. She picked it up slowly, fingers running along the cover to make sure it was real.

Suddenly, Adaryn heard a soft noise come from somewhere further into the forest. Normally, she would run and hide, but she knew this was a dream. This had to be. So she couldn't get hurt, right?

Deciding to investigate, she found herself in an open clearing, grass and flowers spread out, moonlight illuminating the area with a soft glow. It made the place seem very magical, and she closed her eyes. The place just called out the word 'Serenity', and she decided to trust the voice. Making her way to the middle of the clearing, Adaryn sat down Indian style and placed the book on her lap, and began to read silently.

[Admin Sydnee]

It was another night in the library for Monroe, without his bed, with his head resting on his backpack and a book in front of him as he fought sleep. The library was quiet and he took solace in it, embracing it while he had it, but it wasn't until he felt the wariness overcome him that he groaned and tried not to fall into the dream of the person who had obviously fallen asleep in the library, but he lost his resolve, exhausted from lack of sleep and fell into the dream anyway, his head on his backpack and the book lying open next to him.

When he opened his eyes he was in an open field. It was a serene setting, with trees and flowers. At least it wasn't some intense nightmare or steamy dream. Both of those were the hardest to endure. But this just seemed to be a normal dream, of someone escaping to a calm place and he could deal with that, as much as he hated intruding in general.

He walked through the field, feeling out of place in his combat boots, black v-neck and jacket in the brightness of the field. The sun shining down on him even felt real, so real it was warm.

He saw a girl in the distance, sitting in a field with a book and decided it best not to disturb her. He didn't need another awkward encounter if he saw her around campus. He'd rather just stay unseen. So he leaned up against a nearby tree.

[Lux]

Adaryn sat quietly, flipping through the pages of the book placed on her lap. The moonlight hadn't been very warming, and goosebumps formed on her arm. She seemed to be incredibly cold, even in the grey cardigan she wore. Maybe it was from falling asleep on the cold library table? Adaryn didn't know, but she wished it could be just a bit warmer.

The good thing about this place, though, was that the atmosphere around her seemed to be calm, untouched by any bad emotions. For a moment, she even closed her eyes, running her hand through the soft grass. This was probably the nicest dreams she had in a while. Since the move to Canada, she had nightmares almost every night, dreading the moment she came into this school and had to leave her parents. But in this specific dream, Adaryn found herself forgetting about her new school, the fact that she had to leave her parents, and just... everything.

That is, until she heard something, like a crack or something of the sort, come from behind her. Her head spun around and she noticed a boy standing in the distance, wearing all black. Uh oh, maybe this was supposed to be a nightmare after all... She thought, biting her lip.

[Admin Sydnee]

Monroe exhaled as he leaned up against the tree, turning his head slightly to see the girl looking in his direction. Shit, she'd seen him. He thought she'd be so immersed in her tranquil dream that she wouldn't notice, but that was obviously foolish to think when he stood out like a sore thumb wearing all black in a field like this.

He moved away from the tree, pushing himself off of it and trying to walk away, to show that he wasn't a threat. He wasn't sure what else to do. It wasn't necessary to waste his energy on pulling out of this dream either.

[Lux]

Adaryn blinked quickly, hoping that whomever was there could disappear. This was her dream anyway, so she could control it, right? She noticed he started walking away, and for a moment she was grateful. But then she realized, she hadn't noticed him because there was no bad emotion, such as anger or hate radiating off of him. Maybe he wasn't a threat. Maybe he should stay. But then the introvert that she was kept her from calling out for him to wait. So instead, Adaryn sat there quietly, her heart pounding in her chest.

Though, as she sat there, she began to wonder why she dreamt of this guy, when she had never seen him in her life. Also, why did it have to be a guy? Couldn't it have been a girl? She would have been a bit more comfortable with that, at least. Being around guys made her uncomfortable in general, but now in her dreams? It was creepy.

Still, there hadn't been much of a change in the atmosphere yet, so Adaryn figured he was just something to unnerve her slightly. Why her subconscious did this, she had no clue. She had attempted to clear her mind, and that is when she heard it.

A high pitched scream reverberated through the forest around her, and she jumped. The voice was clearly from a female, and it sounded as if whoever it came from was in a lot of pain.What was that?! Her throat tightened realizing that her few moments of peace were over. Something was coming, and man did she wish that guy hadn't walked away. Adaryn looked around, hoping to locate the boy, but he was long gone. Oh no... she thought.

[Admin Sydnee]

Monroe was happily enjoying himself. He'd walked off and was lying in the field on his own with his eyes shut, just enjoying the tranquility of this unknown girl's dream. How he wished more people had dreams like this. Ones that were uneventful and relaxing. But that was too much to ask for.

Suddenly, a loud scream echoed, startling Monroe and making his eyes open in alertness. He quickly got to his feet and took off in a run, darting back to where the girl had been. He didn't know if that had been her screaming, but whoever that was, their scream had shattered the calm feeling of this dream. And it seemed as if a dark mist was overcoming the field, the wind picking up around him as he ran back to where the girl had been sitting in the grass.

That was when he saw her, still sitting there, eyes darting around and looking scared. She was alright. He stopped, just a few feet short from her. "Did you hear that?" he asked.

[Lux]

Adaryn placed a hand over her mouth, unable to figure out where the screaming had come from. It seemed to have come from every direction, so she couldn't pin point one specific location. She also couldn't feel any emotion, probably because whomever it came from was too far from where she sat. For a moment, it was eerily quiet. So quiet, in fact, that she felt that anybody who came around could hear her heart hammering in her chest. She stood up slowly, about to make her way into the forest to begin investigating.

"Did you hear that?"

Adaryn screamed, whipping around to see the boy who she had seen leave just minutes before this happened. What was he doing back here? The guy stood there with combat boots, and dark clothing from head to toe. It was hard seeing him in this light, but she knew for a fact that he was there.

"I-I don't know." She stammered, clearly bothered by all of this sudden commotion. What was with the guys just showing up? Why couldn't there be a female? Hopefully this wouldn't be like the encounter she had with that sophmore boy who probably hates her guts now. Adaryn swallowed nervously, standing there awkwardly while gripping the hem of her cardigan tightly.

[Admin Sydnee]

"You...don't know if you heard it?" Monroe raised an eyebrow, about to walk closer, but stopping himself short, one foot in front of him. The way she was standing, the tremor in her voice. They all pointed to the fact that she was afraid of him. He could only sigh at this. Of course she was. A random figure in her dream dressed in all black. "I didn't mean to scare you by the way. What is it about me? The longer hair? The black clothing? The combat boots? Because they're stylish, no matter what my mom says." He rolled his eyes, thinking about her for a moment.

"Anyway," he said again, shaking his head. He needed to stay on course. "Someone screamed. At first I thought it was you that was in danger, but it must be someone else. Do you usually have nightmares? Do they have a common theme? We might be able to figure out what this one is all about and shut it down. After all, dreams are created by the mind. And you control your mind." He realized he was rambling more and probably freaking out this girl even more, but he was already in her dream and she'd already seen him, so why not make things more complicated and interact with her?

[Lux]

She stared at the boy in black with wide eyes, not sure whether or not he was a friend or foe. He seemed a little stunned by the scream, and he honestly didn't know what was going on it seemed. And the fact that she didn't either seemed to confuse him more.

"I didn't mean to scare you by the way."

Adaryn could laugh at that, but nothing came from her mouth. He didn't mean to scare her, but he sure as hell already have. He then made a joke about his clothing, and despite her terror, the corners of her lips twitched upward.

The boy then began getting into a bunch of things that she wasn't quite following. He was telling her this was a dream, and that much she already knew, and then after that? Well, she sort of lost him. "What?" Her voice came out weak and shaking.

Then the scream sounded again, echoing through the forest from all sides. She couldn't pinpoint the location, but it seemed to be much louder than it had before. Did that mean something was coming?

Her dreams typically had her being attacked by crowds of people for being different, or shocked until she could no longer bear to stay conscious. But it all had to do with the fact that she had her power, and in her mind, everyone wanted her dead. "Death..." She mumbled softly.

[Admin Sydnee]

Monroe didn't know what to do. He'd tried humor, he tried making himself seem less scary, but the girl still stared at him wide-eyed as if he was going to dart towards her at any moment. He bit his lip before speaking once more. "Do you have any idea what's going on in this dream? What do you usually dream about? Because it seems like your pleasant dream is becoming a nightmare." She really did have control over it, it just took a lot of work.

He only got a little bit of a smile out of her, just a quick glimpse before she was back to staring at him. And when the scream echoed again, he walked over to her just in time to hear her mumble a single word. Death...

"Do you have any idea who that person screaming could be?" He didn't really have to get involved, but she seemed to need help, that and she was terrified. He turned to look where he thought the scream was coming from, which was behind them.

[Lux]

He was right behind her now, she could feel it. There was a sense of anxiety in the air, and it was probably radiating off of her at this point. He seemed as calm and collected as he could be, considering this probably wasn't really fearing what was soon to come. She even wondered how she thought up of someone like him. In her dreams, she was always alone, supposed to face whatever came with no help what-so-ever.

His dark eyes stared at her while he asked if she had a single clue who the person screaming was, and she shook her head, her words getting caught in her throat. She just realized again who she was talking to. It was a guy, maybe a year or so older, and about a half foot taller than her. Adaryn felt very small next to him, and the fact that he was a male and was actually kind of cute didn't help...

"All I know is that in my nightmares.... I usually end up dead in the end. Actually, it ends before I actually get killed, but..." She mumbled softly.

[Admin Sydnee]

Monroe was feeling sort of useless to the girl when she wouldn't speak and just looked at him as if she was unsure she could trust him. She finally said something, but even then it seemed she didn't know much. She only knew that she died at the end of her nightmares. From what, she didn't say or maybe she didn't know. Maybe what killed her is what caused the feminine scream that Monroe swore he could still hear when it was silent.

The wind had picked up in the field, blowing his hair wildly around him. "Do you know why they want you dead?" Just as he asked this question, he heard a voice boom, being carried through the wind.

"Adaryn!"

[Lux]

The wind was picking up, blowing their hair wildly in ever direction, not letting up for even a moment while this boy spoke. It was chilly, sending shivers down her spine as it whipped her body; her face stung from the uncontrollable gale.

Adaryn tried keeping her hair from whipping around by putting it up into a messy bun, and even then, loose strands still flew everywhere. She wrapped her arms around her midsection protectively, feeling somewhat better. When he inquired about why whoever they were wanted her dead, her heart sank to the bottom of her stomach, her whole body going rigid as she remembered why they came to her every night. "My power. They don't like it..."

Why her subconscious thought that people would actually feel threatened by empathy is beyond her, but every time they come and deliver the final blow, they always hiss " A power like yours should never exist." and then she would wake up.

"Adaryn!"

As soon as the voice growled her name, she screamed, instantly whipping around and backing away. But this time, she couldn't continue because she hit something solid, causing her to scream once again. Then she remembered who was here with her, and she calmed slightly, though not enough for her to cover her ears and plead to herself.

"Please make it stop...please..." Tears were welling up in her eyes as she thought of what was sure to come. A faceless man wearing all grey; A golden dagger with a curved hilt; a large boot pressing down on her chest; a pool of her own blood surrounding her; the whimpers that came from her lips as she pleaded for her life. It was all so clear. Adaryn knew what was going to happen, and yet she had no control over it.

[Admin Sydnee]

Monroe waited for a response and when he finally got it, his eyebrows furrowed in confusion. "They don't like it? Who is they?" He realized he was asking a lot of questions and she seemed so afraid, but he couldn't help her unless he knew what was going on.

This seemingly calm dream was turning into a nightmare. And Adaryn somehow let it. How cruel the mind could be to play a trick on you by making you think you were having a peaceful dream and then changing it into a gruesome nightmare with screams piercing the air and a powerful wind that was enough to knock you over. "Adaryn," he repeated. "Is that your name?" Somebody was calling out to her and it didn't seem like somebody she wanted to see.

Tears welled up in the girl's eyes and she was backing away from him. "Hey, it's okay," he told her. "This isn't real. It's not real." He could try to pull out of it, but what kind of a person would that make him to abandon her here in her nightmare? Besides, it would take a lot of energy to pull out of it and he wasn't sure he could. He put a hand on her arm, in a desperate attempt to calm her.

"A power like yours should never exist." The voice was all too clear in what it said and suddenly it seemed as if there was a dark mist hanging over the field they were in and out of it came a figure. Was it a person? He stared at it, stepping instinctively in front of Adaryn.

OOC: I was thinking, since Monroe has a flaw in his power that makes it so what happens to him in others' dreams, affect him in real life that he gets hurt somehow in the dream and wakes up with a bruise or something to that effect. I dunno. Just an idea. She could see him at school and recognize him and the mark he had.

[Lux]

The boy seemed to catch on that her name was Adaryn, though, who wouldn't? This was her dream, and the name was echoing through the dark forest that surrounded her. "Yes... It is..." She confirmed, though she knew that he already knew the answer to his own question. Adaryn was shaking now, stumbling backwards, trying to get away from the place, fearful of the events that were sure to happen next.

"Hey, it's okay." He tried to reassure her, "This isn't real. It's not real." She knew these things already, but they still felt incredibly real, and every time she had a dream like this, she woke up with a horrible pain wherever the man had stabbed her that night. More often than not it was in her stomach, and she always ended up at the toilet, dry heaving for at least twenty minutes after. When she looked back up, she wanted to scream once again.

It was all too familiar, the image in front of her. Coming from a dark purple mist appeared a man, roughly about 6 feet tall with a devious smirk on his lips. His eyes were completely void of color, even the whites were gone. Adaryn shuddered at the sight, trying to locate the dagger that has killed her so many times before, and found it in a sheath that hung from his black slacks.

The man dressed elegantly, as if he had just come from a rich man's party. A striped purple button down shirt tucked nicely into black slacks, with black polished floorsheims peaking out from each pant leg. A matching tie was wrapped around his neck, while the tuxedo jacket was draped across his right arm. He wore a rather bored expression, which scared Adaryn even more so than she had already been.

"Hello lovely," He purred, taking a step towards her. Adaryn backed up instantly, her eyes locked on his, unable to break away. It was as if those black eyes hypnotized her. She was unable to move, her hands to her sides and her feet planted firmly on the ground. Though, he was the one to finally look away, and he didn't look too happy "And who might this young man be?" His voice was strained it seemed, as if he was trying very hard to maintain a calm and collected tone.

Though Adaryn knew this was all a facade, she couldn't help but be grateful that he was speaking in this manner. That meant the pain wouldn't come yet, at least for now.