Three weeks.
Half of the Aberrations in the younger grades were quiet, and Virgil had even seen a couple of them crying. Larry had postponed the play, as well as the rehearsals. According to Pam, Persephone had locked herself in their room and refused to come out. Patton had none of his cheer. Remus was broken.
And Janus had been missing for three. Weeks.
"I never really registered until now how many kids Janus brought in," Virgil murmured. "Guess me and Patton aren't the only ones he managed to sort-of befriend."
"He's more like their cool uncle who they only see on Christmas," Roman said. "A lot of the Aberrations he finds are younger. Fifteen's the oldest they go without getting found."
"Like that makes me feel better."
Roman sighed and squeezed Virgil's hand. "I miss him, too."
Virgil looked up at him. "Really?"
"Yeah." He scratched the back of his neck. "I was actually starting to warm up to him again. I'd... I'd been planning to apologize for everything before..."
"Before it happened."
Roman nodded.
"He's not dead, Ro," Virgil said softly, squeezing his hand back. "Trust me on this."
"How do you know?"
"Because Pearl and Pam check every day and they haven't found him yet?"
Roman let go of Virgil's hand and shoved him. "Shut up."
"Okay, in all honesty, I have no clue whether he's alive or not, and I'm choosing to believe that he is," Virgil told him, rubbing his shoulder. "I don't want to think about the alternative."
"What options are there?" Roman grumbled, stuffing his hands in his pockets.
"Dead, which I refuse to believe is possible," Virgil said, starting to tick them off on his fingers. "Being held captive by some maniac---not ideal, but better than death. And escaped said maniac and trying to make his way back to us---again, not ideal, but better than the other two, except not, because he could die trying to get back to us, and he probably doesn't know how to contact us, and---"
"Virgil." Roman rested a hand on his shoulder. "You're anxiety-rambling again."
"Sorry," he mumbled.
"It's fine."
.........
Virgil knocked on Remus's door. "You okay?"
"Come in if you want to," Remus responded. "I don't care."
Virgil opened the door and saw him sitting on the floor, wrapped in the blanket from Janus's bed. His back was to the doorway, but Virgil could tell by his voice that he'd been crying.
"Y'know, the ops are doing their best to find him," he told him, resting a hand on his shoulder. "They might've gotten a lead by now. You never know."
"Don't try optimism, Verge," Remus said, wiping his face. "It doesn't work on you."
"Well, Janus isn't dead, and we both know that."
"We don't know that. Anything could've happened to him."
"Hey, hey, no." Virgil kneeled down in front of him. "Is there any part of you that's telling you that he's dead?"
Remus hesitated. "No, not really. I mean, I've been trying to prepare myself for that, but... I think he's alive."
Virgil nodded. "Good. Good. We're staying positive."
"There's nothing positive about Jan-Jan being missing," Remus mumbled, pulling the blanket tighter around himself. "Anything could've happened to him, Virge. Whoever has him could be torturing him or starving him or brainwashing him or---" His voice broke.
"Easy, there, big guy," Virgil soothed, giving him a hug. "You're okay. It's okay."
Remus shook his head, but he still hugged him back. "S'not okay."
"I know, but we're gonna get through this. Hopefully." Virgil blinked away the tears that were starting to form.
Remus sniffed. "It's dumb, I know, but I keep on dreaming about him. And it's always happy---I keep on remembering the best times we had together, y'know? Like the first time we kissed, or the first time I had dinner with his family, or the first time we... well, you don't wanna hear about that."
"Yeah, no offense, but I don't really want to hear about---" Virgil stopped.
Remus gave him a concerned look. "What's up?"
"Dreams," Virgil whispered, his brain racing a mile a minute. "Holy shi---that's it."
"What's it?"
"I know how we can find Janus," he said, getting up and pulling his friend to his feet. "C'mon. We gotta get everyone."
Remus's eyes widened. "What do you mean, you know how to reach him?"
"Just trust me, okay?" Virgil pulled him out of the room and down the hall.
"Could you please tell me what you're thinking about?"
Virgil opened up the door to his dorm, snapping his fingers. "Roman. Up."
Roman looked up from his phone. "What's wrong?"
"Nothing is wrong. Everything's perfect. C'mon, we gotta go get Logan and Patton."
"Okay, be secretive." Roman got up and followed Virgil and Remus down the hall and around the corner.
Virgil barged into their room. "Heartwave! Get moving, we gotta get to Picani's office!"
Patton nearly fell out of his chair. "Okay! Okay! We're coming!"
"What's with all the hubbub?" Logan asked.
"Just move, okay? I'll explain once we're there."
The group speedwalked to the elevators and rode one of them up to the offices. Virgil didn't speak a word for the entire ride---he was too amped up.
As soon as Virgil slammed the door open to Emile's office, the man in question jerked his head up from a set of files. "Boys, you can't just barge in whenever you---"
"Get Remy down here," Virgil told him. "Now."
.........
"Why did I not see this before?" Logan exclaimed. "I'm the genius here! I should've remembered your powers!"
"You can't always solve every problem, Jacobi," Remy said, running a hand through his hair. "Let Hayashi take the credit for once."
"I am letting him take the credit! I'm mad at myself here!"
"Don't beat yourself up, Lo-Lo," Patton told him, resting a hand on his arm.
Remy let out a sigh. "Okay, fair warning, it might get a little... spooky."
"I deal in shadows," Virgil reminded him. "How spooky can it be---"
He removed his sunglasses.
Bright, electric-violet eyes were revealed, squinting against the lights in the office.
"The thing about never sleeping is that you gotta be able to see in the dark," Remy said as Emile turned down the brightness. "Me, Maman, and Dice's eyes are specifically designed to have perfect night vision, but the downside is that they're reaaaaaaaally sensitive to light. Hence, the sunglasses."
"In all honesty, I just thought you wore them to look cool," Virgil commented.
"Yeah, that sounds like me," Remy admitted. "But I gotta have them off in order to access the Dreamer's Void."
"The Dreamer's Void?"
"I'll explain later." Remy sat down cross-legged on the floor and closed his eyes.
Roman nudged Virgil. "What do you think's gonna happ---"
Remy suddenly gasped and jerked his head backwards, eyes opening again. They were glowing with an otherworldly light.
"Don't disturb him," Emile said in an undertone. "He needs complete concentration."
"What's he doing?" Patton whispered.
"He's going where all dreamers go."
..........
Remy's eyes snapped open.
Like always, he was standing in a field, surrounded by blue-and-purple fog. There was an odd light everywhere from an unknown source, but his eyes weren't bothered by it at all.
A whispery noise sounded as a figure appeared in the fog. As it got closer, Remy saw that it was a person dressed in all white, with dark skin and long black hair that floated around their head. Aside from that, Remy couldn't pin down what they really looked like. The only facial feature he could pin down was their eyes---no pupils, no irises, just swirls of blue and purple.
"Hello, dreamwalker," they said---in French, just like always.
Remy bowed. "Morpheus," he responded, slipping back into his home language. "It's good to see you again."
Morpheus smiled. "And you as well, Remy Lionel Adrien. It has been too long."
"Just Remy, Morph."
"How is Emile?" Morpheus asked. "You used to visit him in his dreams often."
Remy felt his face flush a little. "Only when I was an operative. I didn't need to when I became a teacher."
"But how is he?"
"Not good," Remy admitted. "That's actually why I'm here. One of our students is missing, and I was hoping to find him in the Dreamer's Void."
"Who do you seek?"
"Janus Ethan Kapoor."
They nodded, understanding. "His dreams have shifted drastically in the past fortnight, dreamwalker. He no longer resides in the Resting Mists."
Remy swallowed. "Where is he, then?"
"He is in the Fog of Nightmares."
It was just what he'd expected, and exactly what he'd been afraid of. "Could you take me there?"
Morpheus inclined their head. "I will guide you there, and lead your spirit back to the Resting Mists when you awaken. But if you ever have need to travel there again, you must do so on your own."
"Why?"
"I cannot afford to play favorites."
"That's what you always say," Remy mumbled.
Morpheus took Remy's hand. "Come. Janus has only just appeared in the Fog."
He let them lead him through the Dreamer's Void. The two passed several people in the Resting Mists---people with content looks on their faces as they dreamed of happy times, people with confused looks on their faces as they dreamed of things that made no sense, people with sappy looks on their faces as they dreamed of stuff that Remy was pretty sure he didn't want to see. As they got deeper into the void and the mists got darker in color, the people they passed grew more afraid---first, the faces of people clearly having anxiety dreams, then people just having plain old nightmares, and then, as the light faded away almost entirely, people who were no doubt dreaming of past trauma.
Morpheus pointed at one of them---a short, skinny teen, missing his hat but still recognizable from a mile away. "There is your dreamer. Be gentle. He is remembering the best and worst night of his life."
"Best and worst?" Remy murmured.
They turned their multicolored eyes on him. "He is remembering the night his mother officially banished his father from their house. It was a blessing for him, but the events leading up to it were not ideal."
Remy looked over at Janus, whose face was screwed up with fear. "I thought his dad never got physical. He just talked shit about him."
"He did that night."
Remy wished, for the millionth time, that he was allowed to use his gun on parents. "Why's he dreaming about it now?"
Morpheus shook their head. "That, I cannot say. I believe it may be due to his current circumstances."
"Thanks, Morph." Remy walked over and rested his hands on Janus's shoulders. Taking a deep breath, he gently tugged him out of the dream.
Janus's eyes flew open. "Get off of me!" he spat, twisting away.
"Kapoor, it's me. It's Remy."
He blinked. "R-Remy? What are you doing here?"
"Virgil remembered that I'm a dreamwalker and sent me here to find you. I just pulled you out of a nightmare."
"Well, you didn't need to tell me that," Janus muttered, pushing his hair back.
Remy sighed. "Look, I'm gonna need you to stay calm for me, okay? Do you know where you are?"
"If I did, I'd have escaped by now." He let out a frustrated growl. "Which would be easier if they didn't shut my powers off."
"Okay, that's worrying. Do you know who has you and Augustus, at the very least?"
Janus gave him an odd look. "What?"
"Who has you, Kapoor," Remy said impatiently. "And, BTW, fucking tell us when someone's using their powers to hurt you---"
"He's not a prisoner."
Remy paused. "Say what now?"
"Augustus is not a prisoner," Janus repeated. "He's working with them. He was their mole."
Ooooooooooooh fuck.
"Whose mole?" Remy asked.
"The Divinity Circle's," Janus told him. "Lead by Augustina Macklemore. She's the one who ordered my kidnapping."
"Tina?!" he exclaimed. "That absolute sweetheart of a woman who gives me cookies at every parent-teacher conference? She kidnapped you?"
"She ordered it. Her pathetic excuse for a son did it, from what I gathered." Janus sighed. "It's hard to explain, but she's apparently deranged enough to think that Anomalies are gods and should be treated like them by the 'unempowered,' instead of hiding, and my powers are apparently so useful to her that she skipped right over asking me to join."
Remy's mind was spinning like crazy, but he couldn't explode right now. "Okay, just hang in there if you can. We're gonna find you and get you outta there."
"How? I just told you, I have no clue where I am."
"Knowing who has you narrows it down a bit." Remy patted him on the shoulders. "I gotta go now, okay? Sit tight."
He closed his eyes, then opened them again. This time, he was back in Em's office.
"Did you find him?" Remus asked. "Is he okay?"
Remy got to his feet, then promptly punched the wall. "FUCK IT!"
A/N: Some hope and a cool-as-hell character design to ring in the new year! Whoop!
The Dreamer's Void was inspired in part by the amazing Children of Hypnos series by Francesca Zappia---it's on Wattpad, it's in my reading list, and you should ABSOLUTELY go check it out. Seriously. It's amazing.
Now, I gotta go type out a rescue scene worthy of Gallagher Girls, so... Happy New Year, everyone!