#I’m telling myself it’s a nightmare/vision but… what if…? 👀

[zuppizup]

Season 7 trailer is on Netflix people!

[bluewren]

Happy Friday Wren! Maybe "your hands are warm" for pre-relationship Tal/Sera? 👀

Pre-relationship Sera & Tali lets me explore some Fade trauma!! 👀

@dadrunkwriting WC: 627

“Are you ready to talk about your nightmares?”

Sera wiggles her legs in place, scrunching herself to feel as small as she possibly can be. Not now, she still rather not have to the Fade. Not even remember, how can she remember? All she saw was nothing.

Taliesen’s eyes widen as she watched Sera’s back hit the window of her little room. Jumpy when she lands, as if she didn’t realize the glass was always there.

“I’ll take that as a no.” She lets a sigh, Sera shook her head. “How’s your little friend been doing, has she been enjoy herself after we took her came back with us?”

The big eared fox crawls up into Tali’s open arms. Twinkle Toes lets the elf push back the ears and wiggle her cheeks, resting in the comfort and bliss of their little room.

Sera giggles when she hears her pet’s joyous squeaks. “Don’t spoil that weasel, she’s already begging for fatty tuna dinners.”

“But how could I not?” Taliesen pouts. “Something this cute, deserves fatty tuna for every meal.”

She closes her arms around the fox’s torso, ruffling the soft fur with her hair.

“You can tell Cabot to stock lots of tuna for little fox, if you want to.”

“Oh no! I’m not explaining that request to Cabot. Your fox, you ask.”

“Why not? You’re Inky, who’s going to tell you no?”

Tali chuckles. “That’s not the point, nobody will take me seriously if I use my power on a request that silly.��

“Pfft. What’s the point of power if you’re not going to abuse it, a little?”

Tali shrugs.

“Somehow always knew I’d like you.” Sera replies with a grin.

She picks up her fox from Inky’s arms, rubbing her thumb over the fox’s long neck until she sees those large beady eyes close for a nap. Inky has a point, this thing is definitely deserves to be spoiled.

“How are you never scared?” Sera finally asks.

“Who said I wasn’t?” Tali raises a brow.

Sometimes when Sera looks at the Inquisitor, all she sees is that blinding beam of light. That arcane sword coming from the top of her bow. That shining blade was the one thing that Sera saw clearly in the Fade, and the first thing that she saw when she got her vision back from the Nightmare Demon. She was saved at that moment.

“Don’t know! It just looks like that.” Sera whispers, swallowing a knot in her throat.

“I do get scared.” Tali asserts, running her hand over the fox’s spine. “Leading groups of more than five isn’t a skill taught to you in Dalish school.” She snorts, feeling an itch in her own throat. “Negotiating, only came to me by trading with humans. Most clans don’t do that.” She sighs. “The secret is that I force myself to smile, or else I’ll make things become much worse for everyone.”

“Hmph.” Sera nods, one of the few times she lacks the words.

Her eyes follow the circular motion of Inky’s hand. Up over Twinkle Toes’ front paws then down towards her stomach, then repeats. She keeps wrangling for excuses to just grab it, always wanting to get closer to the heart inked on top. She probably shouldn’t, Inky is already closer than Sera wants her too be, she already thinks about their leader too much.

Sera reaches for the hand, suddenly her thumb now feels the need to rub the heart inked there.

She smiles, admiring the intricate curves of Inky’s vallaslin. “You’re hands are so warm.”

“That’s why I don’t sleep in a room where half the walls are windows.” Tali throws back a cheeky smirk.

“Shut up. You!” Sera squeezes Tali’s hand tighter, her lungs filling up with laugher.

[thepaintedlady00]

Chapter 16 Random Preview

Y'all asked for it. 👀

“Penelope-”

“Don’t worry Des, I’ll finish it. Just… Tell him I’m sorry,” I whispered, gripping the book tight in my blackening hands as my shoulder seethed in shadows. “And that I loved him more than anything.”

“Weaver!” Destiny yelled as I willed myself into the darkness.

***

Dream rose to his feet, his eyes turning away from where his lady had vanished from to The Corinthian as he clapped slowly. “Quite the woman isn’t she? I’m starting to think I put my money on the wrong Weaver. So, back to square one it seems.” He pulled a knife from his jacket and shook his head. “But I won’t go willingly.”

“A knife against a dream?” he asked, stepping towards his creation slowly.

“You don’t think dreams can die?” The nightmare egged on. “Let’s find out.”

Dream held his hand out, drawing upon his power. “Enough.” The sand has only just begun to swirl around The Corinthian as he stabbed his knife into Dream’s hand. It was surprising to him when it actually hurt, so much so he dropped to his knee and examined the cut with tentative hands. “How?”

“I’ve got Rose Walker getting stronger every second while you get weaker,” The nightmare said with a wide, smug grin. “She’s taking your place at the center of The Dreaming. She’s bringing the walls down between the sleepers minds and now they’re all dreaming the same dream. A dream that I inspired.”

“No.”

“It’s already happening. There’s nothing you can do. She’s asleep and dreaming.”

“Then she’s not beyond my reach.”

The Corinthian shrugged. “Oh, I think she is. Now that she knows you’re planning to kill her.”

Dream ignored the nightmares words and pushed himself into the dream just as she and her brother turned towards him. “You need to wake up!”

“Don’t listen to him, Rosebud. You’re the one with the power now, not him. This is your dream.”

He moved through the plastic lining the door with a sigh at the sight of so much death and violence before him. “It’s his dream, for your world.”

The Corinthian sneered at him for a split second before smiling at Rose. “Then let’s make it yours. Whatever you want, Rose. A blank canvas!”

The dreams of her brother and the other humans vanished and Rose’s eyes went wide with fear. “Where’s Jed?”

“Jed’s fine. He’s upstairs, asleep, he’s right next to you. This dream is yours now. The Dreaming is yours now!”

“The Dreaming is yours? Is that what he told you?” Dream demanded coldly as he watched his nightmare struggle to keep his composure.

Rose looked up at him, sorrow and confusion shining in her eyes. “He told me you were gonna kill me.”

Dream nodded a little. “Did he tell you why? When a vortex brings down the walls between dreams, she creates a single volatile dream that will collapse in upon itself, and take the waking world with it. Your world. Everything and everyone will die.”

The Corinthian bent down to Rose’s ear. “Don’t believe him, Rosie.”

“It’s happened before. I failed in my duty, an entire universe was lost.”

Steel singing in the air echoed around them as The Corinthian pointed a knife at him. “He can’t kill you if you kill him first.”

“Killing me may save your life, but it won’t save the lives of those you love.”

“I’m tryin to keep you alive here!” The nightmare growled, the playful mask he bore slipping at last.

“I’m trying to keep your world alive,” Dream argued.”

“Enough!” Her voice echoed in the vast space as Dreams' eyes looked up, there in the distant darkness he could see Penelope… A dream of her? No. A vision. 

She’d been thrown to the ground, her surroundings unknown to him as a clawed hand of darkness grabbed her head and held her down, squeezing enough to puncture her cheek. Dream took a half step forward when her eyes met his, wild and desperate… afraid. Penelope! Her eyes filled with tears, the fire in them raging as her hand found a dagger. She shoved up, stabbing deep into the arm of whatever creature lurked.

Rose’s power radiated through the room, but he couldn’t take his eyes off the sight of his lady as she was dragged back into the shadows and out of his sight. A scream and a wild shriek filling the air. “If I’m as powerful as you say I am, then I will find my own way. In the meantime the walls go back up. Because I am not dreaming anymore. Thanks to you two I’m wide awake.”

His heart thundered in his chest as he watched the walls further separate him from going to Penelope. And just like that the dream faded, The Corinthian filling his view as he lifted his hand and examined the healing wound. His nightmare took off the dark shades that shielded the rows of teeth from view. “If you think I’m going back to The Dreaming with you-”

“You’re not going back.” His voice was low, nearly hoarse with the emotion that raged in him. Penelope was somewhere fighting for her life and he could not save her and The Corinthian… his masterpiece needed to be unmade and he needed to be the one to do it. “I brought you into this world to serve humanity. Not to feed upon it.”

“Do you know why I do it? So I can taste what it’s like to be human.” The Corinthian scoffed at him. “You don’t care about humanity, none of them, not even her. You only care about yourself and your realm and your rules.”

“I contain the entire collective unconscious. Without my rules it would consume me. Humanity would be consumed.”

“Or you might actually feel something.” His nightmare smiled, sad and angry. “I am not the problem Dream.”

There it was. The answer to the question he’d been asking for so long. Why did his dreams and nightmares feel so distant from him? Why did they prefer Penelope, someone they’d only just barely been introduced to when he had been beside them for eons? It was far more simple than he’d thought possible. He pushed them away, shoved them into strict rules that shackled their growth and thus their ability to view him in any light other than a captor. “You are right. This was my fault, not yours. I had so much hope for you, but I created you poorly then. So I must uncreate you now.”

The sand swirled, glowing red as it ate away at his masterpiece. “I am only sorry I won’t be here to watch you lose everything… to see Rose Walker do the same to you.”

Dream knelt before the pile of sand and plucked the small skull up and a sad smile. “Next time I make you, you will not be so flawed and petty, little dream.”

He turned to the crowd of his creations flawed inspiration and shook his head. “And you… who call yourselves collectors, until now you have sustained fantasies in which you are the victims comforting daydreams in which you are always right. But no more. The dream is over. I have taken it away. For this is my judgment upon you, that you shall know from this moment on exactly how craven and selfish and monstrous you are. That you shall feel the pain of those you have slaughtered. And the grief of those that mourn them still, and you shall carry that pain and grief and guilt with you until the end of time.”

They all rose from their seats and walked, dazed out of the room. Dreams eyes settled onto the spot Penelope had once stood, his heart sinking lower and lower every second she did not reappear before him. My love… Where are you? Please… Tears filled his eyes as the minutes passed with no sign of her. Penelope.

***

Darkness surrounded me, the wound on my shoulder burning now in the rancid air as I stumbled into the altar and shakily set the book in place. I flipped through the pages, eyes scanning and desperate to find Lyria’s handprint. Come on. Come on!

A dark chuckle echoed around me, pain ripping through my shoulder and tearing a scream from my throat. “Why do you still fight against the dark, little Weaver?”

Before I could even move out of the way the demon had grabbed me and thrown me to the ground. My head cracked against the stone as I pushed myself back, hands fumbling in the dark for my lost daggers. The glowing red of the demons eyes was all I could see in the darkness in front of me as it shifted and moved without a sound. It's long talons flashed for a second before it's whole hand curled around my head and squeezed the sharp points into my skin. I groaned, still trying to move as my eyes lifted and a hazy vision of Dream and Rose and The Corinthian flashed in the distance. Dream... I thought softly, my hand shifting toward him and bumping into the sharp sting of Destruction sheathed in steel.

I wrapped my hand around it, taking one last look at Dream's eyes before forcing my body up and stabbing the blade deep into the demons arm. It shrieked loudly, its hand tightening around my head as it flung me through the air and sent me crashing into the altar.

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