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Description
Elijah hasn’t left his house since he talked Sully into going into the REA with him. He can’t sleep, because when he does, he still sees the warehouse, the black water, the crying child. It doesn’t change, even though he brought his old friend in with him and they watched that child turn into a monster, and that monster turn into him.

Going into the REA was supposed to help. They needed to test it, the others said – they needed to get to the root of their problems and figure out how to help each other in order to move on. He’d been trapped in a loop for weeks, nightmares killing him every night. Bringing Sully along couldn’t make things much worse, could it?

But it did, because Sully saw that his greatest fear wasn’t some metaphorical creature or a physical manifestation of something that actually made sense. Hell, even if it had stayed as it was in his dreams, he wouldn’t have been as mortified about the result – it had always looked like his former trainer. Monstrous and covered in steel blades, but still recognizable as the human who had hurt him. He could explain that away with ease.

But then Sully had noticed something he never saw. The creature was just slightly too inhuman, like another animal posing as a human shape – and when he looked closer, he could see that it was covered in skin-colored scales and its face was patterned with bright red scars just like his own. And when Sully brought those things to his attention, his monster had changed, morphing into something far worse.

His greatest fear was a massive red Gyarados, eyes pitch black and scales studded with blade-like appendages. The monster had nearly killed them after that – it probably would have, if Sully hadn’t been there to help Elijah take it down. But even after defeating it… nothing changed. The dreamscape stayed the same. Elijah’s nightmares wouldn’t stop. Sully didn’t fare better either.

It had been a waste, and Elijah is back to staring at the ceiling in absolute misery as he actively avoids sleep. He wanted to work things out with Sully, but he’s starting to think he’d made a mistake. Neither of them was ready for this.

He’s not sure when he finally falls asleep, struggle as he may against it. His body has consistently reached the point of no return in recent weeks – he can stay awake for excessive amounts of time, yes, but he can only go so far before he shuts down. And he can fight the collapse as hard as he can, but he knows he’ll lose eventually.

When he opens his eyes and sees the flooded warehouse again, he’s immediately thrown off by a single object out of place – there’s a scrap of black cloth floating on the surface of the water a few feet away, barely visible save for the fact that it doesn’t pick up the moonlight the same way the water’s surface does. He hesitates, unsure if he should move at first, before he finally pushes forward and reaches down to scoop the wet fabric up into his hand.

He’s surprised when he lifts it to see the fabric dissolve and melt, turning into black water that drips between his fingers. He’s confused, but as his focus shifts forwards, he sees that there are more patches and strips of black fabric dotting the water in a trail leading further down the corridor. He can hear the distant and gentle sound of a child crying in the distance, but it’s distinctly different than what he remembers.

He can hear whispers amidst the tears, barely intelligible but recognizable enough that he knows what they are.

They’re pleading for help.

He keeps moving forward, wading through the thickening water, stooping to grab scraps of cloth as he moves. Each one dissolves like the last, turning to liquid, before he finally reaches the open room with the stained windows. The child he remembers – the younger version of him – isn’t there anymore, kneeling in a patch of moonlight. Instead, there’s a large piece of black fabric – a blanket, maybe – floating on the water’s surface.

He steps towards it, hesitating, before he finally reaches down to pick up the fabric. It feels familiar, like the blanket Regis had given him when he pulled him out of the water for the first time. He feels tears well up in his eyes at the memory, and he clutches the black fabric close until it dissolves like the rest, spilling between his fingers and dripping into the water below.

Description
Elijah hasn’t left his house since he talked Sully into going into the REA with him. He can’t sleep, because when he does, he still sees the warehouse, the black water, the crying child. It doesn’t change, even though he brought his old friend in with him and they watched that child turn into a monster, and that monster turn into him.

Going into the REA was supposed to help. They needed to test it, the others said – they needed to get to the root of their problems and figure out how to help each other in order to move on. He’d been trapped in a loop for weeks, nightmares killing him every night. Bringing Sully along couldn’t make things much worse, could it?

But it did, because Sully saw that his greatest fear wasn’t some metaphorical creature or a physical manifestation of something that actually made sense. Hell, even if it had stayed as it was in his dreams, he wouldn’t have been as mortified about the result – it had always looked like his former trainer. Monstrous and covered in steel blades, but still recognizable as the human who had hurt him. He could explain that away with ease.

But then Sully had noticed something he never saw. The creature was just slightly too inhuman, like another animal posing as a human shape – and when he looked closer, he could see that it was covered in skin-colored scales and its face was patterned with bright red scars just like his own. And when Sully brought those things to his attention, his monster had changed, morphing into something far worse.

His greatest fear was a massive red Gyarados, eyes pitch black and scales studded with blade-like appendages. The monster had nearly killed them after that – it probably would have, if Sully hadn’t been there to help Elijah take it down. But even after defeating it… nothing changed. The dreamscape stayed the same. Elijah’s nightmares wouldn’t stop. Sully didn’t fare better either.

It had been a waste, and Elijah is back to staring at the ceiling in absolute misery as he actively avoids sleep. He wanted to work things out with Sully, but he’s starting to think he’d made a mistake. Neither of them was ready for this.

He’s not sure when he finally falls asleep, struggle as he may against it. His body has consistently reached the point of no return in recent weeks – he can stay awake for excessive amounts of time, yes, but he can only go so far before he shuts down. And he can fight the collapse as hard as he can, but he knows he’ll lose eventually.

When he opens his eyes and sees the flooded warehouse again, he’s immediately thrown off by a single object out of place – there’s a scrap of black cloth floating on the surface of the water a few feet away, barely visible save for the fact that it doesn’t pick up the moonlight the same way the water’s surface does. He hesitates, unsure if he should move at first, before he finally pushes forward and reaches down to scoop the wet fabric up into his hand.

He’s surprised when he lifts it to see the fabric dissolve and melt, turning into black water that drips between his fingers. He’s confused, but as his focus shifts forwards, he sees that there are more patches and strips of black fabric dotting the water in a trail leading further down the corridor. He can hear the distant and gentle sound of a child crying in the distance, but it’s distinctly different than what he remembers.

He can hear whispers amidst the tears, barely intelligible but recognizable enough that he knows what they are.

They’re pleading for help.

He keeps moving forward, wading through the thickening water, stooping to grab scraps of cloth as he moves. Each one dissolves like the last, turning to liquid, before he finally reaches the open room with the stained windows. The child he remembers – the younger version of him – isn’t there anymore, kneeling in a patch of moonlight. Instead, there’s a large piece of black fabric – a blanket, maybe – floating on the water’s surface.

He steps towards it, hesitating, before he finally reaches down to pick up the fabric. It feels familiar, like the blanket Regis had given him when he pulled him out of the water for the first time. He feels tears well up in his eyes at the memory, and he clutches the black fabric close until it dissolves like the rest, spilling between his fingers and dripping into the water below.