#all a bad dream

[rose-of-the-grave]

What Do You Remember?

Pairing: Lily x James

Hey, everybody! This is part 4 of All A Bad Dream, based off of this question. I hope you like it! As always I'm the author (please don't repost)

Masterlist. Series Masterlist Read on Ao3

Warnings: mention of suicide, trauma from a coma, hurt/comfort, Harry is loved, descriptions of canon events

Word Count: 1365

Description: When Harry's nightmares refuse to leave his loved ones become concerned so they ask him about what he experienced during his coma dream.

Taglist: @sylveryfire, @waitingformysandman

As the weeks went by, Harry’s nightmares persisted. Enough so that it was cause for alarm for his parents. It didn’t matter what they did, he would always wake up in the middle of the night leading him to be exhausted for the rest of the day. Eventually, Lily and James, as well as Sirius who had been concerned after all of the times he had stopped by to see Harry and he had been too tired to talk for more than ten minutes, decided to have a talk with Harry to see if maybe he needed to see a doctor or something.

“Hey Harry?” Lily asked. “Can you come out here please?”

Hesitantly Harry walked out into the living room where both of his parents and Sirius were sitting, all of them had tired and worried expressions. It was something he had noticed in his time getting to know them again. In his coma dream Lily and James had seemed so young because he had only seen pictures of them. Both of them had died at twenty so they had seemed so young compared to everybody else who was still alive and yet the same age. Sirius, however, he had to admit looked better. His years in Azkaban had taken a toll and yet here, standing in front of him, he looked younger. It was still so odd to see all three of them alive and well.

“Is everything alright?”

Lily smiled at him, as if to reassure him but all he could see was how tired she looked, how worried. The slight lines on her face and the sadness in her green eyes. He wished he could take it all away. Undo the coma and relive his teenage years with his parents at his side. But he couldn’t. He hated to think about how much he had put them through.

“We’re worried about you, Harry.” James sai, leaning forward a bit. There were a few streaks of gray in his hair, betraying his age. Premature, he thought. His dad was only thirty-eight. “You haven’t been getting good sleep ever since you came back from the hospital.”

“Is there something we can do for you, sweetie?” He couldn’t bear to look at his mother’s concerned face.

“I just…” He paused. “I just can’t stop remembering what happened. You were dead! And Sirius…” He turned to look at his godfather. “I watched you die right in front of me.”

Sirius recoiled as if he had been struck. The sounds of all of their gasps of surprise felt like arrows, piercing his heart.

“I almost died, several times.” Harry admitted.

Lily stood up and walked over to him, trying to wrap her arms around him to provide some form of comfort but he pulled away. “Oh, Harry.”

“And the worst part of it was, I survived. Every single time only to need to die in the end.” The words echoing in his head, ‘neither can live while the other survives.’

“How… How did you die?” He looked up at his father’s face, the worry plain to see in every line and every crease. He didn’t want to answer. In the weeks since he woke up he had only told them snippets of what he went through. Not once had he mentioned almost dying or them being dead.

“I sacrificed myself so that everyone else could live. If I hadn’t he would have killed everyone.”

Sirius stood up at his words, beginning to pace back and forth.

He knew what they were wondering. In a world where there was no magic he had quickly realized just how different things were. He knew that some of them were worried about him trying to end his life. It didn’t show through much but he could tell whenever he had mentioned the little things like how wonderful his life had been there compared to here because to him the magic had been amazing. He would have given it all up in a heartbeat for them all to be alive but it was still a magical and wonderful world.

Most of all, he remembered when they had asked about how his mind had filled in the blanks or his childhood. His mother’s reaction to hearing how her fictional sister and brother-in-law had treated him had been heartwrenching. In that moment he truly believed that if the Dursleys were real she would have been very angry.

“I saw you all.” At their looks of confusion he clarified, “Before I died. You gave me the strength to go through with it. Knowing that I would finally be able to be with you again. Sometimes I think that this is the afterlife, that it isn’t real and we’re all dead.”

Lily gave him yet another sad look, her heart physically hurting from the pain her son had to endure. James stood up and walked to her, hugging her from behind. He reached out a hand to Harry and Sirius who both joined in. Tears rolled freely down their cheeks as the information sank in.

Later, while eating dinner, Sirius asked in a low, muted voice, “How did we, how did I die?”

Harry looked over at him and considered how to answer that. He still hadn’t filled them in on all of the details of his dream.

Hesitantly he began, “Well, Mom and Dad died when I was a baby. They were killed by a really bad man who also tried to take my life but because of Mom’s love, he couldn’t and instead died himself.” At his confused face he said, “Magic is a very weird, sort of sentient thing in a way. Her love was considered the most powerful magic. Anyway, they died and I lived with my fictional aunt and uncle until I got a letter for Hogwarts. You already know how you were in wizard prison, which is why you couldn’t raise me but when I was fifteen, two years after we finally met there was this battle and your cousin killed you.”

The way he said it, so matter of factly, was what truly amazed them all. It was so odd to see that not only had he thought he lived for seventeen whole years in a world where there was magic and things like this got to be commonplace.

“I only knew you for two years and then I lost you. I lost all of you.” He started to choke up a bit, “That’s why I have trouble sleeping. I keep imagining that this is the dream and that one day I will wake up and you’ll all be gone.”

Sirius stood up and walked over to him, wrapping his arms around him. “You’re not going to lose me. Alright, kid?” He ruffled Harry’s hair before sitting back down.

His parents echoed that same sentiment. It would take time for him to fully stop his brain from making him question what was real and what was not.

“Maybe you should write all of this down.” His mother suggested. “I mean, I’m no therapist but maybe if you write it all down as it happened you can use that to try and remind yourself that that is all a dream. It might help you find the distinction between your coma and what actually did happen.”

“Maybe. There’s a lot to unpack but that might help.”

“Or at the very least we should start taking pictures. You can look at them as proof of it happening. I have all of your old drawings and things, we kept every single one. There’s also plenty of photos from when you were a kid. Maybe those might help. We can look after dinner.”

“Thank you.”

She smiled at him with watery eyes that were a bit puffy from all of the crying that they had been doing. “Anything for you to start feeling better.”

He gave her a grateful smile. There were a lot of times when his mind would play tricks on him but at moments like these when he could feel just how much he was loved by all of his family he just knew, deep down, that this was real.

[justaz]

*merlins magic gets exposed in front of the knights*

merlin, magic user: oh fuck

arthur, finally taking this opportunity to pretend as if he just found out merlin has magic after agonizing for the past month on how to bring it up: you have magic?

lancelot, merlin defender, already knew of merlin’s magic: no! i have magic

gwaine, merlin defender, already knew of merlin’s magic, lover of chaos, ride or die: no, i have magic!

mordred, desperate for his hero’s approval bc no matter what he’s done emrys just stares at him with distrust and the poor boy is tired and so close to tears: no…i have magic.

percival, raised by druids and bonded strongly with mordred over that and does Not agree with the persecution of magic in camelot, had an inkling that merlin had magic but no proof: no. i have magic.

*leon and elyan exchange a look, elyan, amused and leon, exhausted, elyan shrugs*

elyan, knows how much gwen adores merlin and completely understands her stance bc merlin…is merlin, down to clown and put on a show, really playing up the dramatics: no! i have magic.

leon, exhausted, has known of merlin’s magic since he stepped foot in camelot, knows of his feelings for arthur and arthur’s feelings for him, knows arthur knows of merlin’s magic and wouldn’t harm him, thinks everyone is being absolutely ridiculous:

*the knights stare hard at leon and even merlin looks slightly offended at leon not jumping to his defense with the rest of the knights, arthur hasn’t said anything and is staring at leon expectantly*

leon, sighing: …no. i have magic.

[mildarka]

Felt like making a reverted AU

[noxcheshire]

I am sick, dizzy, and can barely think but you know what would be WILD?

If the DC universe was an echo of Danny’s world. What if the continents of their planet shifted enough where Amity is now in New Jersey and had then become Gotham.

And when Danny died underneath the portal a part of his death fractured and imprinted itself into those various worlds. One of them being Gotham, where Danny’s home ironically used to be where Wayne Manor used to be.

So just imagine it, you’re coming back from patrol, grimy, sweaty, and with questionable intentions by dressing as an overgrown bat when suddenly the lights dim. It dims and brings darkness, only enough light to catch the beady marble eyes of the bats you fear.

And then electricity jumps in the middle of the room, flinging itself around like an agitated snake in wide open circles.

Everyone is backing away, some weary, some cursing, some just half way out of their own suit.

And then a child — barely as old as your youngest now, flickers to life before you, screaming and screaming, wailing in pain as the scent of burning flesh mingles into the air. You can see the boy, black hair and blue eyes that underneath the bright light that burns them is causing black to turn white, and blue to turn green.

The electricity crackles and when the boy is about the drop, limp, certainly lifeless, he vanishes as if nothing had ever been there.

But he comes back, he always comes back, in the moment of calm and in the moment of despair, echoing that painful wailing of death.

It’s so wrong.

It’s very, very wrong.

It didn’t even matter anymore why the boy showed up, only that this moment of pain continues to haunt the cave of heroes.

Continuously haunting, even as some whispered apologizes when the boy appeared. Continuously haunting, even as some provided songs of comfort when the boy appeared. Continuously haunting, even as stories of Gotham are told and promises (though uncertain and flimsy at best) are spoken to the wailing boy who always drops fast and disappears just as quickly.

Always, it was the same.

Until one day it wasn’t.

The electricity crackled like it always did. A spark, and then a calamity of light. And the boy would be there, uncurling himself into a tense position as he would wail.

But not this time.

Instead the boy curled himself in the air, calm as can be, almost as if he were sleeping. Even the electricity that they have learned to dance away from was calm, gentle, like ocean waves.

And when the electricity vanished, the boy did not, instead dropping to the floor where Dick was quick to catch him, grunting in preparation of weight only to show alarm at how thin the boy truly was.

On that face that has haunted them all for months is just a boy, sleeping, and scarred. A boy breathing very slow, slower than what they would like, but here in the physical realm with them.

Dick brushed back bangs of black hair, and slowly, ever so slowly, glazed blue eyes stared back.

[kayshasiemens]

Rising from the dead to share this painting and then disappear again

I have spent over 90 hours of my life on this thing because I have had the brain rot for the last 2 years of my life (almost 20 if you count when I first read the comics) and it had to express itself somehow

Hope this dramatic bitch feels appreciated

(A Dream of Morpheus, handmade egg tempera on panel, 12x18 inches...if by any chance you'll be at SDCC or Gen Con, I'll be at booth 934/936 at the first one and Art Show #13 at the second one - come see the original, maybe get a print, or just yell/cry about Sandman with me?)

And here, have some more details - I had fun combining some favorite elements from both the comic and the show ♡

[astrolavas]

your worst nightmares

[hajihiko]

Nice night 🌘

[thatone-highlighter]

I love you albums. I love you songs connected by similar themes. I love you listening to songs in a specific order picked by the artist. I love you reoccurring motifs throughout the same album. I love you album covers. I love you albums with extended editions. I love you songs that reference each other.

[spoopdeedoop]

also some cdream doodles i did to figure out the vibe i wanted for him. figured eldritch horror type beat was cool

[mac-monsters]

Thank you so much for the 1,000 followers!!!! Have some fem andreil as requested 🙌🙂‍↕️

Not sure how Neil ever managed to crawl out of that window 😭

[lotus-pear]

lore accurate chuuya canonically drives a 2006 sparkly barbie motorcycle

[rose-of-the-grave]

In that AU with Harry being in coma, how much did it hurt Lily & James to visit him on his birthdays, hoping for a miracle only to be denied this?

Hi anon, thanks for asking!

Masterlist. Series Masterlist. Read on Ao3

All A Bad Dream? Blurb

The worst moment of Lily and James' life was turning around to see Harry lying on the ground, blood trickling from his head. Everything after that happened so fast. An ambulance was called and they went with him to the hospital.

Next thing they knew they were sitting in a waiting room praying that he would be okay. When they heard their only child was in a coma neither one believed it.

They asked for a second opinion, they did everything they could. The two of them visited the hospital everyday. If for some reason they couldn't go they would ask one of their friends, usually Sirius, to sit with him for the entirety of visiting hours. Lily didn't ever want him to feel unloved or abandoned. She had heard that there was a possibility that he could hear them so she ensured that there was always someone there reminding him just how many people loved him.

Every year on his birthday everyone would come to the hospital to wish him happy birthday. They would sing and tell him stories.

And every time that they left both Lily and James would pause at the door, holding their breath, hoping he would awaken. He never did.

They would make it to the car only to start sobbing once they got in. Both of them blamed themselves for not keeping a better eye on him.

Over the years they told each other to never lose hope but with each birthday that passed without him waking up it was hard to stay hopeful.

They had almost lost hope when Lily got a call at 5 in the morning. These days she never got any sleep so she answered right away. When she first heard the news she didn't believe it.

It didn't fully register that he was awake until she and James got to the hospital and saw him with their own eyes.

[sevenlersiniz]

You turn on the light.

[crustyfloor]

A new pop-up store dropped for ALIEN STAGE's 2nd anniversary and wow. It's so sick.

It's Interesting what exactly these experiments are focusing on and monitoring.

Instrument practice

I found it interesting earlier that Till was so tame, more so than he usually is when he's going through experiments, but music, and making music is what he loves doing, So he was fully in his element here. This was probably the only thing he was made to do by the aliens that he at least tolerated.

(Additionally, judging by his collar (orange), he was at least calm. maybe he just isn't fazed anymore.)

//Side note, that head contraption looks familiar BUT this most likely isn't related at least i hope

(It puts me at ease, at least..)

Dance practice

This surprised me, but I suppose Mizi needed more skills.

She looks very startled here, and nervous(?) +It looks like she's doing this while singing. And with that face covering I assume this was a test monitoring her dance balance, precision, etc. At first, I did think it was odd, "Why would Shine put her through that" But alas I was reminded that even though Mizi is the flower of the group she was never untouchable, to Shine, this was the equivalent of teaching your dog to sit and stay.

(seeing this it reminded me of those scenes in movies where the people are dancing, and the music gets faster and faster until they fall. I wonder if she was doing through something similar to that)

Singing practice (?)

Similar to Till she also looks quite calm outwardly, if the machine around her neck is an iteration of the collars they have, then this process wasn't something she liked, or given how intense this experiment looks, this was a test of high-pressure to ensure she always stayed calm during performances (?). Then again this could also be a posture practice given all the structure focused on maintaining her position.

(What I believe was another form of this test was shown before so I think so)

(With her hands in a praying stance I wonder if she was praying to herself or singing a religious song (sweet dream?) It's also interesting that the machinery around her looks like a halo, and she looks so...angelic? holy?)

Image making practice

By image making, I think they made Ivan replicate expressions with his face. Whether this process was painful for him or not...I'm not sure. But it looked visibly uncomfortable, maybe that was the point. (His expression, even in this circumstance is so dubious..)

Ivan, among other things, needed to have a spotless appearance to be successful, his image was a priority given his skills were certainly guaranteed.

I assume the aliens eventually took note of his lack of expression, in the real world this can be a detriment to one's career, so the Aliens had to ensure quality was perfect. (To a more...dedicated level)

Superiority test

'Superiority test' Is very vague.

HyunA is very calm here too, likely sedated in that water with all the tablets on her. I guess this was a test to get an idea of a pet human's strengths and weaknesses, endurance, and temperament to compare and contrast them with others, testing who is more viable for Alien stage?

Another interesting, and sad part about this is that HyunWoo was there, watching his sister through her experiments.

(Also, it looks like both of her legs are normal, no alien leg yet.)

Heart rate variability

And finally, the most visceral of them all. The wording 'variability' makes this all the more sickening, the Aliens were testing his heart hours, testing it at different rates, speeds, and states. And he was in agony the entire time. Even the way he's clutching his chest, it gives me chills. This would've been a completely harmless test in a normal setting, as something quite similar to this can be performed efficiently in real life. But he's being tortured in the process.

This is one of the first times we've ever seen Luka's face so truly clear and unprotected, (understandably so.) He's even crying.

[artpepkin]

Height difference cause I love that alicorns are so tall >:]

[claraoswalds]

The sky's a burnt orange, with the Citadel enclosed in a mighty glass dome, shining under the twin suns. Beyond that, the mountains go on forever. Slopes of deep red grass, capped with snow.

The Legend of Ruby Sunday // The Sound of Drums