Just a Dream (Monroe x Adaryn)

[Admin Sydnee]

Unfortunately, the only thing Adaryn had confirmed was her name and not much else. Monroe was left guessing as a figure appeared from the mist, dressed elegantly as if he was going to some sort of masked ball; his face was concealed, but he spoke, stepping towards Adaryn, looking lethal.

"Who are you?!" he bellowed at the strange man, narrowing his eyes as he stood in front of Adaryn who was backing away from the stranger who didn't seem so strange to her. She'd seen him many times before in her nightmares. "She was having a peaceful dream and then you just had to show up and screw everything up." He had no idea what Adaryn's power was, but nobody should hate her for it. "You can't just kill someone because you don't like who they are. She didn't choose to be special, to have a power. So leave her alone." His tone was fierce and stern and he didn't move, his feet planted firmly on the ground.

[Lux]

The boy, still without a name, stood in front of her defensively and she blinked, unsure whether she was just imagining his body there. Adaryn wasn't, and she had to wonder why he was putting himself in danger for her. He didn't know Adaryn, and she did not know him, and yet he stood in front of her, guarding her as if she was someone important. But in actuality, she wasn't anyone important at all.

It was hard for Adaryn to see in front of her, considering the boy was standing in her way. She was grateful though; grateful to get away from the man's gaze that sent sharp needles down her spine. But she could feel the annoyance radiating off of him like heat radiating off of pavement, and suddenly, she feared for this boy as well.

***

"Do not speak to your elders in such a manner, my boy.[/i]" Cain raised his brow in disgust, having a hard time believing that a child could disrespect him in such a way. But then again, this was now modern times where, more often than not, kids could not be beaten without consequence. That is the reason why most kids seemed to be very snarky and impolite towards people who seem to be bigger than them. Just so they could feel bigger, but Cain wasn't going to let it happen.

He chuckled, clearly amused by the boy's spirit, but honestly? He was going to kill the girl again and again, every night until her body wouldn't be able to handle it anymore and she wouldn't wake up. "I don't have a reason to kill her?" He spoke with a hint of surprise in his voice. "I don't understand why you see it that way, my boy. Her power is deadly, and she knows that full well. She gets into the minds of others and manipulates the emotions, as if they were her puppets. But you are correct about not liking her, except, not only do I not like her, I hate her.[/i]" He took that moment to return to his mist form and appeared behind Adaryn, his forearm pressed and wrapped around her neck. He heard the child scream, and he grinned in satisfaction.

[Admin Sydnee]

Adaryn didn't speak, but she didn't need to. Monroe knew she was stricken with fear. Elders? Like this strange freaky figure was his elder. How could you hate someone for something they didn't choose? Adaryn wasn't asked which power she wanted. She didn't get to select if off of a shelf. If she did, she certainly wouldn't have chosen what she got. Manipulating emotions was a dangerous thing, but it wasn't as if she chose it, and Adaryn didn't seem like someone who would do it out of pure pleasure.

Who is this man? Why does he seem so real, not only to Adaryn but to me? He's not so dream-like that I know he's fake. It's like he exists....and not only in the realm of the mind where dreams happen.

He wished he had the ability to manipulate dreams, so he at most could conjure himself up a weapon, he was useless like this. But before he could think about it too much, the figure disappeared and when Monroe heard Adaryn scream, he turned around to see the man seizing her and that was when he panicked. What the hell was he supposed to do?

The wind was so violent that it had snapped tree branches from a nearby tree. He quickly ran over to grab one and ran at the figure, swinging it at him, hoping for something remarkable. "Let go of her!"

[Lux]

He was squeezing her neck, and she clawed at his hands, trying desperately to get his arm away from her neck. Adaryn was gasping for air, her face turning a slight purple from her inability to take a full breath. What could she do to save herself? There honestly wasn't a damn thing that she could think of that could make him let her go. Then she saw the boy staring at her for a moment, panic in his eyes, as he ran in an opposite direction.

She wanted to cry out, No! Don't leave me!, but the words never came. Instead, it was just a strained choking nose. The edges of her vision began to turn black, and she knew that she was slipping out of consciousness, but she had to try and do something for herself. She focused on the man holding her. Guilt! She chanted, hoping something would happen. Guilt, Guilt, Guilt!"

She could feel his hatred for her begin to change, and his grasp on her loosened. She gasped for air, taking in heavy breaths, but he wasn't letting her go. But a moment after he loosened his grip, the boy was back with a branch, swinging at him wildly. It seemed to frustrate the man, and immediately the guilt was gone, replaced by fury. His grip tightened once again.

Suddenly, a purple mist was forming around her and the man, and she gasped in surprise. He was taking her somewhere in the form of a mist, and she instantly felt weightless. But she still was having a hard time breathing. She was going to pass out soon if she didn't find a way out of his grasp, and Adaryn knew this. Once she touched the ground once again, across the clearing from where the dream boy stood, and she used this chance to dig her nails into his skin, drawing blood.

He cried out and released her, and she ran. She didn't know where she was going to hide, because she knew that he would follow, but she ran. "Come on!" Her voice was hoarse and raspy, and she noticed it hurt to even speak, let alone scream. Adaryn hesitated for a moment, waiting to see if he would follow, before continuing to run. And that was a huge mistake in itself. The man appeared once again, blocking her way.

[Admin Sydnee]

Monroe watched what happened with the figure with wide eyes, not knowing exactly what to do. The branch wasn't much help and somehow it seemed as if she was able to slip out of his grasp on her own. It was amazing to watch, but also horrifying. She dug her nails into the man's skin and took off running. Monroe didn't miss a beat and followed her, sprinting wildly after her, reaching out for her arm. "How," he breathed. "Did you do that?"

But before he could get an answer, the figure appeared in front of them again, blocking their way. He held onto Adaryn's arm firmly, looking up at the figure. "You're persistant aren't you? Like a fly buzzing in her ear. Fuck off, she's not hurting anybody."

[Lux]

Adaryn looked back quickly when she felt his hand grasp her arm, and it sent shocks through her body. Normally, guys didn't ever touch her, unless she was counting the guys in her family who tended to be much older than she was. "How did you do that?" He sounded out of breath, and she couldn't blame him, Adaryn was still trying to catch her breath herself.

When the man appeared again, she jerked away, not sure of what else to do. He was as angry as ever, and she winced as she could feel anger clouding her mind. She made a guttural sounding noise as she tried fighting back the urge to claw at the man right there. He would stab her instantly, and she didn't want that. Adaryn took a deep breath and allowed the boy to stand in between herself and the man.

"You're persistant aren't you? Like a fly buzzing in her ear. Fuck off, she's not hurting anybody."

His words shocked her, especially when he cursed like he had. Adaryn had never said anything worse than damn, and even then she was hit for it. She bit her lip softly and her gaze moved towards the dagger, noticing that his hand was inching towards it. She let out a gasp before grabbing a hold of the boy's shirt and pulling him back as quickly and with as much force as she could muster. It didn't seem like it was enough though, because the tip of the dagger still had gotten his cheek, and the man cried out in frustration. Adaryn lunged for him.

**

Wouldn't this child just shut up and realize that this girl had no right to be living on this earth? That none of them did? Cain realized that this boy was real, he had enough experience in dreams to realize that. How he was sucked into this dream was beyond him, but the boy was proving to be nothing but an annoyance to him, and he was going to get rid of him once and for all.

As the boy spoke, he wanted to grab the dagger right there and just kill the boy. But he allowed his hand to slowly make its way to the weapon, but while he did so, Cain made conversation. "Actually, she is.[/i]" He raised his arm and revealed the marks that Adaryn had just made with her nails. "But not only that, she has done much worse than that. Isn't that right, child?[/i]" He grinned at her, and that is when he took his chance to pull the dagger from its sheath and strike at the boy.

Though Cain hadn't expected Adaryn to pull his target back, so the dagger just barely hit him. He noticed that he had made a shallow cut on his cheek, and even though he hadn't hit like he wanted to, he knew that the boy was stunned, which was all that he could have asked for. It would give him a chance to fini--

The girl shoved him, and he stumbled back, clearly shocked by the sudden fierceness she held in her eyes. He had never seen this side of her before, and as shocking as it was, it was also amusing. Cain towered over her and could probably double in weight. She honestly thought she could do something to him? He chuckled audibly, spinning towards Adaryn with a devilish grin plastered on his face.

"It's not often that once catches me off guard. It seems as if you are learning from our experiences together. Congratulations.[/i]" He turned into a mist once again and reappeared behind her. This time though, instead of his arm around her neck, he had the dagger pressed to her throat.

[Admin Sydnee]

Monroe wasn't going to move. Wasn't going to let this guy keep on torturing Adaryn in her dreams. It seemed to make her a fragile, scared girl. He stared up at the figure with determination on his face and only flinched slightly when the dagger was pulled. "Adaryn," he spoke firmly. "You can wake up from this, you know that right? He doesn't have power over your dreams. This is your mind. It takes practice, but it's possible. It's possible to not be a victim but rather be in control of your dreams. They are your own after all." He spoke quickly and firmly towards her and was wondering if she'd even listened when he felt her pull him from behind and he staggered back against her, feeling the sharp edge of the dagger connecting with his face. But she'd moved quickly, towards the figure to challenge him and Monroe was left to raise a hand to his cheek, pulling his hand away with crimson coating his fingers. It stung.

In moments, Cain had her, an arm around her neck and the dagger at her throat. "Adaryn," he said again and he was already moving towards them, not caring about the cut on his cheek or anything of the sort. "Did you hear what I said?" How he wished he had a weapon right now to fight back.

[Lux]

Honestly, no words that were coming out of the boy's mouth were registering in her brain. She could hear something being spoken, but the words were not being processed as such. All she knew was that he was probably trying to be reassuring, but she only saw the man's hand reaching for that dagger, and she knew that she couldn't let him die. Not in her dream.

Instead, when she yanked him back, the dagger sliced his face slightly, and she couldn't contain herself any longer. Cain had gone too far, and the anger that had been radiating off of both him and the boy in front of her, consumed her. The world seemed to slow around her as her body moved forward quickly, knocking Cain back and stunning him. Though that anger didn't really last long, because he had quickly gotten a knife pressed to her, and she could feel the sharp edge digging into the sensitive flesh of her neck . Adaryn whimpered softly, not daring to move.

Her eyes were locked on her made-up dream boy, and she forced herself to listen to the words coming from his mouth."No..." She replied. Adaryn didn't know because she hadn't heard what he had told her the first time. She was too preoccupied at the time to even listen, but now she slightly wished she had. Adaryn began to think it was useful information that could have saved her.

"Come any closer, and she is dead.[/i]" Cain warned, raising his brow at the foolish boy. Kids these days didn't realize that more often than not, an adult actually meant what they had said. To further encourage him to stop, he pressed the knife to Adaryn's throat, and she cried out, and he could feel her warm blood begin to seep from the wound.

[Admin Sydnee]

Monroe froze in his place, ignoring the cut on his face. "I'm not moving, so stop!" He yelled, but part of him thought that Cain wouldn't stop anyway. Either way, Adaryn was going to die, in this nightmare of hers. She didn't have to fall victim to this dream, but lucid dreaming took a long time to master, even Monroe still had trouble and he was stuck with this ability. Besides, he couldn't alter other people's dreams, as much as he wished he could. He felt useless.

The wind was still whipping around him and he had no clue what to do.

[Lux]

It hurt. Cain's grip wasn't letting up, and Adaryn was stuck feeling the physical pain of the knife digging into her throat and the emotional fear radiating off of the dream boy and herself. She wished she could have gotten his name, but that wasn't what needed to be addressed at the moment. She needed to figure out a way to get this knife away from her throat, or at least a way to wake up. If she woke up, she wouldn't have to feel the pain any longer.

Adaryn heard him plea with Cain, but he wasn't going to have it. Instead, he quickly moved the dagger from her neck and lodged it into her stomach. She cried out in pain and doubled over into his free arm, and the man took that chance to twist the knife inside of her, and she choked up blood.

Cain let her fall to the floor once he had pulled the dagger from her stomach, and grinned playfully at the boy who just witnessed this first hand. "Don't worry, my boy. This won't be the last time you see me. Because just maybe, you're next."

***

Adaryn woke up with a start and instantly, the pain in her stomach erupted and she nearly vomited right there. Clutching her stomach, she groaned in pain and pushed out of her seat, stumbling slightly. The world was spinning around her, the books on the shelves seemed to be a blur of colors. She choked, and began to weakly attempt to actually find the exit. She needed to get back to the dorm, or a bathroom. It felt like she was going to vomit bile or even pass out. Finally, she reached the exit and when the world stopped really spinning, and she ran as fast as she could back to her dorm room.

[Admin Sydnee]

Monroe knew he was lying. Of course he was lying. He shoved the dagger into Adaryn's stomach and Monroe could only watch helplessly as she crumpled, blood going everywhere. It was a gruesome sight, one that he had to convince himself wasn't real because it felt like it was, like he was witnessing a girl dying before him. This Cain, he didn't seem like something made up in Adaryn's head, he seemed lifelike, as if he could go into dreams just like Monroe could and the horrifying scene before him didn't disappear until he threatened Monroe.

He woke up, jolting out of his chair and hearing the music blasting through his headphones that he'd had on when he fell into sleep. He took his headphones out, breathing heavily and trying to calm down, when he saw a crimson stain on the page of the book he'd had his head on. It was fresh.

Blood.

Slowly, he reached a hand up to his face to feel a wetness and his hand began to shake, and not just from all of the coffee he'd taken in. Where he'd been slashed with the dagger in Adaryn's dream had given him a gash in real life.

He got up quickly, glancing around the library, looking for this girl, who had to have been near, but he found nobody.