PSL - Xion | Helen Magnus --> I might see you in my nightmare

[lifelines]

It had been a hell of a dream, a hell of a week. Helen couldn't remember the last time she'd had nightmares this bad, bad enough that she'd been sleepwalking. She was a terribly light sleeper usually, so the fact that she'd been interacting with the waking world and didn't remember it was frightening. The city was new to her and the fact that she'd never once gotten lost played to her advantage. Still, that didn't really make any of this better.

"Ashley!"

Her eyes were open, but she couldn't see anything except the daughter in front of her. Above her, as Ashley struck and Helen fell to the ground.

"Ashley, please-"

And then John came out of nowhere and punched a hole through their daughter's chest with his fist. All Helen could think about was the loss of her daughter. Their daughter. What happened next was a blur to Helen, even in her dream state. All she knew was that Ashley was gone and John had killed her.

She woke to the sound of rain drops falling, sitting on the ground in the middle of the night with tears streaming down her cheeks, crying for her child, whom she'd lost over a year and a half ago... and the former love of her life, whom she'd lost over a century ago.

"Ashley..."

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[whodoyousee]

Xion hadn't been having good dreams, either.

Maybe it was because she wasn't a true person, but her dreams were very... straightforward. Every time, Roxas had vanished, absorbed into her, and Xemnas used that for his own gain. Simple enough, and yet completely terrifying.

She'd gone out walking, not wanting to wake anyone or bother anyone with her own worries, when she'd heard someone. A little worried, since they sounded really upset, she hurried towards the noise, slowing only when she saw the person. And that just confused her more. "Helen?" she asked, carefully approaching the woman, "Are you ok?"

[lifelines]

Helen would have said she was okay if it weren't for the sobs wracking her body. Normally, she would have passed it off, avoided mentioning what was bothering her. But this time, she couldn't. This time, it was too much. The nightmares were too close to reality, a reality she had seen with her own eyes. It had been bad enough to live through once, let alone dream up a second time.

It took her a few moments to gather herself and stop sobbing so incessantly. When she finally had more control over herself, she looked up to see who had addressed her and forced a smile. Xion. Her company could definitely be worse.

"I've been better," she admitted, knowing she couldn't get out of that with a lie. "It was a nightmare... Apparently, I've taken to sleep-walking."

[whodoyousee]

At the word 'nightmare,' Xion's expression saddened considerably. "I'm sorry," she said, quietly and glancing away, "I know some of those are getting really bad." She definitely didn't want to burden Helen with her own problems, but maybe she'd want to talk. That helped, sometimes.

"Do you want to talk about it?" Unfortunately, she didn't really know how to ask except very bluntly. "It's ok if you don't, I just..." She really wasn't any good at this.

[lifelines]

Helen took a deep, shuddering breath and finally stood, brushing off stray pieces of dirt from her nightclothes. It was a good thing she'd remembered - in her sleepy, not-quite-there state - to grab a robe before she left her room. It didn't help much, but it was something.

Ashley was one of two subjects Helen didn't speak of, couldn't. She didn't talk about her deceased daughter to even her staff at the Old City Sanctuary, not even to Nikola, who had known her for most of her long life. She couldn't bear the thought of facing her daughter's death. And yet, these nightmares were forcing her to do just that.

She glanced up at the top of the domes, where rain was falling steadily, and sighed. This place had certainly changed the rules, hadn't it?

"Let's go inside, shall we? My apartment's very close by."

If Xion didn't protest, Helen would lead the way back to the place she was staying in. Even if she didn't actually answer Xion's question about her nightmare, maybe talking with someone friendly would help.

[whodoyousee]

Xion nodded, following along behind Helen quietly. If she didn't want to talk about her nightmare, that really would be ok. Helen was obviously really upset by them, so she might not want to think about them. No matter what the conversation turned to (except maybe her own nightmares), Xion wouldn't mind.

[lifelines]

Once they were inside and Helen had shut and locked the door, she headed for her room with a murmured, "If you'll excuse me a moment." She didn't take long, but she needed to change. When she returned, she was wearing a simple Victorian-style dress that sat on her body far better than expected. Helen could wear this style far better than most of the non-native Paixaoans.

It came with having grown up in an era similar to the one these people were trying to emulate. The only difference was that her hair was dark instead of blonde and she hadn't taken the time to curl it.

Pushing those thoughts aside, she returned to the room and tried her best to smile at Xion. "Would you care for a cup of tea? I find it usually helps when I can't sleep."

And since the Sanctuary was nowhere nearby, that meant she couldn't just waltz up to the roof and look out over the city as she usually did when she couldn't sleep at home. So, tea it was.

"Or when I sleep too much, as the case may be."

[whodoyousee]

Xion nodded. "Thank you." Really, she didn't know what tea was, other than a drink, but if it helped with sleeping than she might want to learn.

She felt a little bad, that she didn't really know what was going on or how to help, even with little things. She was just standing, somewhat awkwardly, in Helen's apartment, waiting to find out what it was that Helen did want to talk about. Or do. Or... whatever was going on.

[lifelines]

Helen placed the kettle on the stove and turned it on, taking another deep breath and wiping her eyes before she turned back to Xion. Life was complicated enough without this making it worse.

"Tea is something I grew up with, a hot drink that most people in my homeland drink," she explained as the water heated. "It just takes some time to warm up."

She paused for a moment, trying to figure out if she wanted to even go into the nightmares.

"Is everything all right with you? I didn't expect anyone to be up at this hour."

[whodoyousee]

Oh. Well, that explained a little bit. A warm drink did sound nice, after being out in the rain.

"Oh, um... I had a nightmare too." Xion didn't really want to talk about it, so she continued on a slightly different subject. "I thought taking a walk might help."

[lifelines]

Helen's smile turned sympathetic. "They do seem to be common lately." She was sorry to hear that Xion had had a nightmare as well, but there wasn't much she could do about it. "So you took a willing walk and I ended up sleepwalking. This place sure is full of wonderful new things, isn't it?"

The kettle whistled and she took the welcome distraction to pour the tea over the teabags and into their cups.

"You'll want to let it cool before you try to drink it or you may well burn your tongue."

She brought the cups over to the table and set them down in front of two chairs, taking a seat. "Please, sit down, unless you've got somewhere else to be."

[whodoyousee]

Xion sat when prompted, reaching out to touch the cup even if she wasn't supposed to drink it yet. It was very warm to the touch, and... oddly comforting. Maybe that was why Helen seemed to like it. She looked up at the woman, hood still covering her face even when she was wet from the rain. "How long have you been here?" she asked, by way of starting up a conversation. She wasn't very good at that, either.

[lifelines]

Helen had lifted her cup so she could smell the fumes wafting from it. Tea was always comforting to her and it reminded her of home. Even in her darkest hours, a good cup of tea could always help brighten things up. Ashley had never quite been the tea-drinker Helen was, but that was all right. Helen would have dealt with the coffee smell if it meant she could see her daughter once more.

"A few weeks, no more than a month," she answered easily. "This is the first out-of-the-ordinary thing I've experienced here. Does it happen often?"

[whodoyousee]

"The nightmares are new..." Xion said, thinking about it. Nothing much that was really weird (at least not to her) didn't happen very often. Actually, she was having trouble coming up with other things. "The most that'll usually happen is someone finds a door to the next floor, but even that takes a while..."

[lifelines]

"It does seem like everything moves fairly slowly here," Helen mused, finally taking a sip of her tea. Her eyes slid closed as she let the liquid flow through her system, warming her up from the inside.

"I suppose the rain isn't common, either, is it?"

It was hard to warm up properly after that, but with luck, both of them could manage it.

[whodoyousee]

Xion nodded. "The city has controlled weather, so usually it's nice outside." So that added the question of why everything was coming down suddenly. She took both took comfort in and worried about the fact that Axel didn't know what was going on, so it probably wasn't the Orgnanization's doing.

[lifelines]

Helen frowned, sipping at her tea again. "Then that begs the question of why this is happening. Do you think it might have something to do with whatever is causing the nightmares?"

The scientist in her was kicking in now. She wanted answers, especially ones that might lead to the end of something as cruel as these nightmares.