With Fear or Without

49- Hail Mary

"Cleo, what do we do? What do we do?!"

"I'm working on it Charlie!" Cleo snapped back, getting seriously irritated by the constant question.

This hadn't been covered in her training. There was no lesson called How to help a friend who is quite possibly possessed by a nightmare demon- something you didn't know was possible! But here she was, with no ideas on how to fight an enemy she couldn't identify with abilities she hadn't even fathomed.

Yet another earthquake shook the ground. They were getting more frequent and more violent with every surge. Cleo was ready this time, having positioned herself against the wall with her knees bent.

Waiting for the shaking to pass, she found herself drifting back to the memory they were in. The memory itself was a dream- granted, it was a nightmare, but still- so logic said it had to end somehow... right?

"Andy, how did this dream end?"

Barely lifting her head, Andy grunted, "Hmm?"

"This nightmare you're remembering," Cleo explained, pointing to the younger Andy down the tunnel. "How did it end? When did you wake up?"

Andy thought for a moment. She was clearly still in pain, fighting hard against an invisible force. "I don't... remember."

Cleo knelt down in front of her. "Try, please."

Andy's face screwed up in forced concentration, trying desperately to retrieve a distant memory.

She stiffened, her face going slack and the shadowy Andy returning to glare at Cleo with those dark eyes. As different from Andy's pale ones as she could imagine.

Her heart raced, pounding against her ribs to try and escape this horror, but Cleo stayed kneeling. It took all her willpower not to break eye contact, though her fear was written plainly across her face.

Just when Cleo couldn't take it anymore, Andy was back. She sank lower to the floor, squeezing her teeth. She groaned, shaking her head as tears slipped down her ace and splashed onto the rocky floor.

"Andy." Cleo's voice was shaking now. "Try harder. You have to remember."

"Can't you see it's painful?" Charlie demanded, a look of absolute horror directed at Cleo. "Just let her be, that's bad enough!"

"I can't," Cleo replied, her guilt pressing against her with all its crushing weight. She was sure of what she had to do now. "The dream has to continue, end the right way- it's the only way we'll get out. And whatever's doing this didn't like my question. That means we're on the right track."

"So that's worth her torure?"

"She's already being tortured!" Cleo challenged, standing up to face Charlie. "If there's a chance something can help us, I've gotta take it!"

Charlie turned away, rubbing their face with one hand. They let out a heavy and shaky sigh but said no more on the subject.

"I... I think," Andy began, her words weak and brittle, each one a huge feat of strength.

Cleo knelt back down. "Yeah? You remember?"

"Something... something made the tunnel... collapse, I think. It's fuzzy."

"Of course," Cleo whispered to herself. What else would happen in a nightmare like this?

Another yelp of pain. Cleo winced at the strained sound coming from her friend. She felt so useless, wanting to reach out to her but knowing it was impossible.

When Andy lifted her head, her eyes bore into Cleo once more. Shadows curled and licked at the air, trying to reach her. Andy's mouth moved, but the voice was not her own.

"This was merely a test," said the voice, crisp and casual, unconcerned. It was smooth like the tip of a needle, like the feeling when your blood turns to ice in your veins. It reached out and made your skin crawl and your nerves scream in alarm. It rang loud and clear through the tunnel without an echo. "The war you're fighting is about to change, young Chosen. Bathe in your glory today. You will be seeing me in person very, very soon."

Cleo clambered backwards, shuffling along the floor away from that voice, those grasping shadows. The words rang in her ears. She would hear that voice for long after it was gone.

You will be seeing me in person very, very soon...

A smug smile was forced onto Andy's lips, a grimace fighting it at the corners of her mouth. The cold eyes flickered back to Andy's pale and scared ones, then back again. Cleo had to act fast.

She got to her feet just as another earthquake tossed her back down. She climbed up again, hoping to see Andy back to normal. But the dark eyes stared back at her and watched her every move, the mouth in the midst of its own grotesque tug of war.

"Charlie, I'm gonna try to bring the ceiling down."

"What?" Charlie cried, joining Cleo at her side. "Are you crazy?"

"Probably."

"Won't that kill us?!"

Cleo wavered for just a moment, remembering the unsettling piece of information Nolan gave her. Dying in a dream...

She shook her head. "I'm right about this, I know I am. The dream has to end how it always does."

Charlie's extreme hesitation was clear in their eyes, but they said, "Okay. I trust you." They took Cleo's hand in theirs, each cherishing having the other beside them.

Cleo closed her eyes so she couldn't see Andy, those eyes and that distorted smile. She tried to imagine herself in a training exercise. Back in the safety of the glass box, Remie watching from just outside. All she had to do was control it. Easy-peasy...

She pictured the ceiling crumbling, wishing for it more than anything else in the world. She pressed outwards to the air around her, willing it to hear and obey her.

She heard chucks of rock hitting the floor, dust raining down onto her shoulders. She felt Charlie squeezing her hand, an odd surge of strength coming from the contact. But it wasn't enough.

There was a crash as rock cracked and crumbled. Somehow, she knew it wasn't her. The dream was being pulled in another direction, like someone was taking the reins, sprinting the final leg of the race. She opened her eyes.

Far down the corridor in the gloom, a figure rushed out. As the ceiling fell and the walls caved in, Cleo caught the quickest glimpse of Remie, her white hair giving her away in the dim light. She gave Cleo a smile and a nod before bringing the earth raining down between them like a mighty warrior of the elements. Cleo had no time to wonder why Remie was here, how she was here, if she knew anything about where they were, what was going on, before the world was plunged into darkness.