[center][h3]Mercy Dreams - Awake[/h3]
Level 13 Ms Fortune (75/130)
The Koopa Troop’s [@DracoLunaris], Primrose and Therion’s [@Yankee], Sectonia’s [@Archmage MC], Ganondorf’s [@Double], Artorias and Osvald's [@Dark Cloud]
[b]Word Count:[/b] 1683[/center]

[hider=Results][b]Party:[/b] Bowser, Junior, Kamek, Rika, Primrose, Therion, Sectonia, Ganondorf, Ms. Fortune
[b]Encounter Reward:[/b] +15 EXP[/hider]

Groaning, Nadia hauled herself upright into a sitting position, rubbing her eyes. As a thief who did her best work by night, sleeping in was one of the few comforts she could afford to routinely indulge in, and once she’d passed out she did like getting dragged back into the waking world prematurely. This was way worse than usual, though, and not just because another long day of constant exertion had left her totally pooped. It felt like she’d been struck by a flashbang. Or maybe this was how divers hauled up too fast from the depths felt? Then again, what little she’d heard about barotrauma suggested excruciating pain rather than dizziness and mental fog, so maybe not.

Either way, it took her a few seconds to collect herself and get her bearings. Dream or not, her experiences in the last few minutes had left her shaken. Chucho, who’d been hanging back away from the action, came to cover her face with big, slobbery licks, which made Nadia feel a lot better. The images of milk-white flowers, boundless cloudscapes, and blinding lights ebbed from her mind, doomed like all dreams to fade and be forgotten. As the fantasy receded, Nadia remembered who and where she was, her eyes blinking open to rediscover a dark underground vault full of broken stonework and crushed chaff. With the awareness came the soreness and fatigue, accumulated throughout the day and weighing on her now that her adrenaline was gone. By now, her healing factor had definitely slowed down. “Oww,” she murmured, rubbing her head. “No more fighting today, purretty please.” Around her the rest of the Seekers, more or less beaten to hell by the back-to-back fights with the Jailers, Ten Piedad, and finally Robin Goodfellow.

Speak of the devil, or archangel in this case, she couldn’t see Robin anywhere. Sure, everything was still a little bleary, but she figured that a being of that size must be hard to miss. Instead of Robin, her search turned up a patch of whispering root, freshly sprouted from a large bed of ash. “That wasn’t there before,” Nadia said to herself, slowly standing for a better look. The leafless branches joined together to form a thicket, eerily similar in shape to a large body curled into a fetal position, its head laid against its knees. Next to the roots lay the thick, magical-looking tome used by Robin in the first phase of the fight, haphazardly splayed out on the ground. Nadia crouched down for a closer look. “Ars…Gouda?” she read, one eyebrow raised. After picking the book up and closing it properly, she glanced at the others. “And here I thought we left all the cheese puns back by Pizza Tower. Un-brie-lievable.”

Also nearby was a conspicuous keyring, glinting silver in the fickle light of the few candelabras that went untouched by the battle. Always on the hunt for treasure, Nadia also quickly found the mask fragment Robin had been wearing. “Hehe. All that just for this,” she remarked with a wry laugh. Never in all her life had a fetch quest demanded as much of her as this one. “Please tell me that’s all of ‘em.”

With so much fighting, though, it was easy for her to lose track of what she was fighting for. “Wait, wasn’t there supposed to be something else?” As she tried to fix her tangled hair, Nadia took another look around. It looked like the warframes had fallen asleep the same as everyone else, but Oberon and Titania had yet to rise. In fact, they weren’t moving at all, and though their damage didn’t look lethal they showed no signs of life whatsoever. At the same time, they hadn’t been reduced to spirits, either. Weird. After another moment, Nadia snapped her fingers. “Oh wait, yeah! That thing the little squirt said we needed. The dreamcatcher! Robin didn’t have it.” Perplexed, she flicked her tails, her eyebrows furrowing. “I kind of assumed he would. What now?”

Before the Seekers resumed their search, though, Nadia did have one insight to share. While scanning the room she’d noticed the symbol on the section of ground that had risen up when Robin made his dramatic entrance, the red ring with a white downward arrow, and she wasn’t the only one who’d seen it before. “Check out that symbol. It was in King’s Station, and this station-looking place in the mall Jesse and I found. We met a talking crab with a wizard hat who said we could use the train to travel between all the stations.” As she spoke, the feral got more animated, her excitement palpable as she reached her logical conclusion. “So once we’re done here, we can ride back up to that town we arrived in! I dunno about you guys, but I’m dying for some fresh air. So that’s what I’d choo-choo-choose.”

Other than the subway entrance, this room had no more secrets, so if the Seekers meant to find the dreamcatcher it would probably be found back in Mercy Dreams. Armed with the silver keys, they retracted their steps to find the prison somewhat different than the way they left it. Before it had been quiet, but not silent, possessed of an eerie, trancelike calm as the whispers of prisoners yet to wake formed a subtle chorus, unnerving chorus. After Robin’s death, what remained of the captive populace had stirred from their pleasant dreams, and now the halls where jailers once patrolled now resounded with the anguished tortured cries of those whose wondrous fantasies had given way to cold and dark, pain and isolation.

To Nadia, this merciless, dreamless prison was downright horrible. It did remind her, though, that she had business that she needed to attend to. Leaving the task of recovering the dreamcatcher to the others, she excused herself and made her way to the third layer. There were still a couple illuminators scattered around the fourth layer, but all the mindflayers had been cleared out from this one, so Nadia had nothing to worry about. Other than the howls of the damned, of course. Chucho stayed close, growling at the doors, and Nadia tried to shut out the noise as she made her way to a certain cell, one of the silver keys in her hand.

When she arrived, she pressed her ear to the door, but heard nothing from inside. She took a deep breath and rapped on its surface. “Minette?”

“Nadia!” The Dagonian’s voice, typically cheerful and bubbly, sounded close to tears. “You came b-back!”

“Of course!” Nadia put on a brave face. Minette couldn’t see it, of course, but it wasn’t for her. “I know you’re a waitress and everything, but I figured you’d waited long enough!”

She heard a helpless giggle behind the door. Or was that just what she wanted to hear? “Thank you, Nadia. For always c-coming to my rescue. For always being there when I need you. You’re the best friend I could ask for.”

That one really tugged at the feral’s heartstrings. Were those really tears, coalescing in the corners of her eyes? How long had it been? Swallowing, Nadia pushed them back, and began to toss her key up and down in her hand. “Hey, it’s my pleasure. Listen, I’ve got your one-way ticket to freedom right here. How about we bust this bad boy open and you say that to my face?”

“Huh?” Minette sounded surprised. “Well, uh, can’t we t-talk a little longer?”

“Sure.” Nadia spun the key one last time, then caught it in her palm and leaned against the door. “We can talk when you’re out of there. Right?”

For a moment, Minette hesitated. “I-I-I…” Nadia heard her take a deep breath. “I, well, it’s just…I can’t explain it, but I’ve got this terrible feeling. That if…if you o-open that door, then something terrible will ha-happen. I…I might never see you again.”

Nadia stared at the floor. Chucho whined, pressing against her leg. “Like this is too good to be true? That you’ll wake up from a dream, and forget everything?” When Minette didn’t respond, she shook her head, her lips pressed together in quiet anger. “It’s because you’re not her.”

“Not her?” Her friend sounded confused. Worried. “H-how could I be anything but…but me? I remember everything. Good times and bad. My dad. Yu-wan and the restaurant. Little Innsmouth. Getting kidnapped. And you, Nadia. All the times we laughed and cried.” She paused. “It’s dark in here, but when I look down, I can see my hands. When I pinch my arm, it hurts, but I don’t wake up. I’m hungry, and cold, and alone…” She raised her voice suddenly. “Please, don’t leave me! I’m your best friend. I’m Minette!”

Nadia sank down to the floor, sitting against the cell door, and sighed. “That’s why it really, really sucks that you’re not real.”

A couple seconds passed before the voice spoke again. “Are you?

A shiver went down Nadia’s spine. “What?”

“You’re telling me my memories aren’t real, or my body, or my feelings. Well, what about you? You have memories. You can see yourself. Feel yourself. What's the difference between you and me? What makes you so sure that you’re real? That the real Nadia isn’t out there somewhere, and when she wakes up, you'll vanish like you never existed?”

Nadia inhaled sharply. Then she stood. “Well. For starters, I can do this.” She inserted the silver key into the lock, and it clicked, fit like a glove.

“Wait, what are you doing?” Minette’s voice was shrill with panic. “Please!”

The door swung open, and a chill swept over Nadia’s body. Chucho growled, his ghostly hackles raised. Goosebumps covered her skin, and every hair on her body stood on end. Her heart quickened as she stared into the darkness, but there was nobody there. The cell was empty except for a cracked mirror, showing Nadia’s broken reflection. Looking at the woman depicted within, she barely recognized herself. Still, after everything, it was her. And only her.

After a moment, Nadia exhaled, the surge of emotion gone. “Now [i]that’s[/i] a bad joke.” Wiping her eyes with the back of her hands, she turned and stalked away through the prison.