Dreaming Ends

The tears in his eyes only confuse her more. If he brought her back, then why is he not happy to see her? She's not sure what comes with raising the dead, but it couldn't have been easy, so why not celebrate.

The back of his hand brushes against her is soft but she feels it as if he had slammed his down on hers, there's a heavy air to the action that she can't quite place.

She has a list of questions for him.

"How-"

But before she can finish, she gets the last answer she expected and every wanted.

"Hello, my dear."

Her eyes widen more but she doesn't take them from Shand's, keeping her back to Ovlreign, physically ignoring the greeting but it's obvious the impact of it has hit her deep to her core. Staring at him is all she can manage, hoping maybe she was just hearing things, that who she thinks is behind her isn't there. But he doesn't answer her questions and he seems to have a hard time meeting her gaze.

"Come now, aren't you happy?"

The sound of the terribly sweet voice makes her heart sink more because it means she's there. Olvreign is there. With her. With Shand.

Olvreign places a hand on Luna's shoulder but it's short lived as Luna instinctively turns around, shoving it off of her.

"What are you doing here? What did you do?!"

She screams at the diety but a smile is all she gets. Her mind is completely convinced Olvreign has captured Shand and forced him to do something, and Olvreign can see the conclusion in her eyes, so she shakes her head.

"Ah-Ah, I didn't force him to do this. He wanted you alive so badly he came to find me and we struck a deal: Your life for his body. From now on, Shand will be my vessel."

Now she doesn't know if she can look back at Shand but she knows she has to.

"Why?"

She manages to turn, not hurt, not even confused anymore, just worried, even upset, but not because she's here, but what he bet to get her here.

"Shand, why? Why would you do that to yourself?!"

Olvreign giggles, attempted to step towards Luna but the glare Luna shoots her over her shoulder makes Olvreign step back. For the moment.

Shand looks everywhere but at Luna. He can't. This isn't how this was supposed to go.

"I️ didn't want you to know. You weren't ever going to find out."

He glares sharply at Olvreign, but he's fully aware that it doesn't mean much.

He bites the insides of his cheeks until he feels blood in his mouth and forces himself to stop. Well, now that she knows, he might as well take his opportunity and say his goodbyes.

"We...we haven't talked a lot in the last..well, long time."

Shand's mouth twitches like it wants to smile but his heart won't let him.

"I️ just...I️ can't do it all anymore. And I️ couldn't keep living in a world where you weren't. So now, at least I️ know you're still there. And things are better now for you, or they will be. I️ know it. And..."

Shand goes to tell her that Olvreign will leave her alone, that she won't have to worry about the goddess stalking her and seeking her life because once she possess Shand, that will be it. He'll never see her again.

But it feels more real now than it had in the cave, when she was still dead and Olvreign was striking deals. He wants to go back on it all and lay into the goddess together, the two of them, and then he wants to stay with her here in her dimension and just live out the rest of days together, in peace.

He knows, though, that as long as Olvreign is near Luna, she'll have no peace. The only way to give Luna a real, true life is to take the threat out of the picture for her.

"Just, be happy. That's all I️ want."

He meets her eyes finally, his head still tilted downward. All the fear, the dread, the resignation he feels washing over him, he does his best to keep it off his face and out of his eyes. Luna was also so good at reading him, but he hopes that she isn't today.

She wants to argue with him and demand that he take back the deal, tell him how stupid he is, and she's sure there's a fire burning behind her eyes. She has so many things she wants to say, but the look in his own eyes stops her in her tracks.

He looks like a child, a small child that was caught doing something wrong, knows it was wrong, and is now giving themselves over to the consequences. Anger fades to concerned tenderness and the words slip, all she wants to do is reach out to him, and she begins to but time for goodbyes is over.

"Now, I think it's time to get what I want."

Olvreign gently pulls Luna back, swapping places so now she's standing in front of Shand, her cruel grin back on her face and there's something in her eyes that tells him she's calling all the shots now, despite what he wants.

"Farewell, Shand. I suppose we may talk a few millennia from now."

She hugs him to her and it makes Luna's skin crawl to watch, but it doesn't last, Olvreign fading into Shand's form.

Shand's mind is a sprawling white land that Olvreign stands front and center in, looking around like an interior design critic.

"We'll have to do some renovations, won't we?"

Shand stands not far from her, looking ready to run and hide in the corner to wait out eternity away from her, but Olvreign has other plans. Snapping her fingers, a crystal cage forms tight around Shand, barely giving him enough space to take two steps in either direction.

"I want you to have a front row seat to the fun. Don't think you're getting away from me. Or, rather, you."

When she looks back, she has both of her eyes again but they're hazel and they cut deep into him as her lips twist upward.

"I'm not really me anymore, am I?"

She heavily emphasizes her words, wanting the weight of them to sink in and fill him with the utmost despair as the gravity of what he's done sinks in.

Luna stares at Shand's unmoving form, her heart beating so loud she can barely hear the sounds of nature all around her.

"Sha-... Olvreign?"

She quickly corrects herself, knowing that, if all is going on as she thinks it is, it won't be Shand that responds to her, much to her growing dread.

His neck jolts in an impossible way that looks painful before a wide, easy smile spreads across his face and makes his eyes crinkle at the edges

"I'm here, love, don't fret. I'm here for you. Me, Shand."

Deep inside, Shand grabs the crystal bars of his newly formed cage and shakes hard. He's not going anywhere. He can't say he's very surprised, but the tightness of the cage makes his chest feel equally tight.

He goes for his knife sheath, for a sharp surface to let blood with, to dissolve the crystal and slip out. But his belt is altogether gone, and he looks up to see her, with his eyes, staring back at him, holding the belt up by one end with several fingers.

When he looks back down at himself, his wrists are tied tightly out to each side of him, fixed to the bars confining him. He really has no options now.

He pulls, he beats, he wrenches, he throws his weight around. But he knows the crystal is too strong. He wonders if it's only a matter of time before he feels it penetrate his veins, too. If he'll end up a fixture decorating the inside of his subconscious to help the malicious goddess to make herself more at home.

"I'll be doing a bit of sprucing up, you understand, but in the meantime..." Olvreign says through Shand's mouth, stretching outward using his arms, as if he's just woken up from the longest nap of his life.

In his cage, Shand can see it. What a sharp contrast the free movement is to what is now his eternal reality.

"What a delight it is to see fully again." Olvreign blinks Shand's eyes repeatedly as he continues to smile eerily at Luna, the obsession on his face clearly imposed by the spirit. "I️ was so attached to the lovely green ones you destroyed, but. I️ think my new hazel ones are growing on me. Ha, growing on me. Literally."

He giggles at her with the utmost excitement. "Imagine, this could have been you. We would have had such a ball together. But I'm quite comfortable now. And just think how comfortable I️ can get- I'll never have to move ever, ever, ever again."

Olvreign prances around the space like a child, crystal growing and beginning to spread wherever she touches.

"It's so empty up here. Do you even have a brain? Even my dear has some furniture."

Finger to her face, she pouts mockingly at Shand, quite enjoying his confinement, even if he isn't.

"Oh, I'm sorry, what did you think was going to happen? I was going to just forget every goal I've ever had? Leave my dimension alone and just wander? Leave Fengari alone? You really are foolish. Maybe try not drinking so much alcohol before going to face a goddess, hm? I wasn't even trying to hide my little deception from you."

She walks over to the cage just to wage her finger in his face.

"Thousands of years and you're still just as much of a fool as a teenage human. Now sit back while I work."

Luna has no clue how to understand what she's seeing and hearing. It's Shand's body but the demeanor and everything else... She's seen possessions before but this one is by far the most unsettling.

She takes a terrified step back.

"You don't seriously think I'm going to let you stay like that forever, do you?"

Even though her body wants to run, knowing the dangerous combination their powers are, she stands there, glaring into his- her- hazel eyes, trying to do whatever she can to get the point of the threat across but... Shand is so much taller than her, it's a height advantage Olvreign has never had and it disturbs her even more.

"I will get him back. You of all people know I won't stop until I do."

"Oh dear sweet one. Did you know that I️ have lightning now too?" Olvreign makes Shand's eyes flash bright blue light, and then glow golden yellow before turning them back to their normal hazel.

"It's a light show in here and I️'m soooo excited to test it out. Can you imagine my crystals, glowing from within? Lightning bolts that form crystals that stretch to the sky. Ugh, the possibility is endless. If I️ wasn't on the absolute top of the food chain already, I️ certainly am now. Have you ever been in here, Fengari? I️ mean, Luna. It's so so white. I️ can tell there are rooms he doesn't want me to find, but oh,"

Shand chuckles a little to himself. "I️ love a good game of hide and seek. Not with him, of course, he's a little tied up at the moment."

Shand rattles his cage, wanting to yell out to Luna but knowing that this is his fate. He signed up for it and now he has to hold up his end of the deal.

He cuts his eyes at Olvreign, not able to keep his teeth from baring and a snarl from lashing out at her. But his veins stop short of glowing as they normally do.

"Leave her alone. It was part of the deal. If you can't keep it, then neither will I️."

His heart feels like it's splitting in two. He can see Luna there like it's all playing out in front of him, her staring at him with wide and horrified eyes. He can't imagine what she must be seeing. And he's sorry he ever forced her to see it.

"Tsk, tsk, we had a deal. One I haven't broken yet."

She's begun snooping around the outer walls of the space, feeling along them to look for any hidden areas.

"I said I wouldn't harm her with crystals and that I would leave her alone. Well, am I really me if I'm in your body? If your body were to reach out and grab her face to study it in utter admiration then throw her across the yard to snap a tree in two, would that really be me... Or you? Because, you see, I didn't touch her. You did."

The threat is heavy, especially considering how much power she holds. She, in Shand's body, could throw someone so forcefully that an entire tree snaps clean in half. Easily.

Her hand finds a hidden door and the discovery of it is enough to make her look back at him with a giddy smile.

"You see, my puppet, I always get what I want in the end. In fact, I believe I got more. I can toy with my love and watch how much it hurts you all at the same time. Not only that: Not only is this world opened to my rule but so is your world. You've truly been a blessing. If I had known killing Fengari would have placed her right in my hand along with unimaginable power, I would have killed her years ago."

Luna shakes her head slowly to show she clearly isn't understanding the last statement.

"Hide and seek? Are you telling me you possessed him just for me to chase after you like a lovesick schoolgirl? You want my attention that much?! You've had it for years now!"

Her fists clench and it takes just about every ounce of self-control she has not to punch Shand's face with a firey blast, but she's too concerned with how that will feel to him, trapped inside his mind like he is.

"Olvreign, let him go. Go find a different toy."

"Oh, sweetheart, I️ do hate to see you so worked up like this. But you need to just go ahead and accept it. Actually, this is the best of both worlds for you. Your best friend and your dearest, oldest friend all in one. And..." Shand taps his chin in thought. "Were we or were we not also lovers? There seems to be some confusion about the nature of our relationship romantically. I️, for one, think it's absolutely adorable."

From his cage, the pieces are falling together for Shand and it's difficult to accept that she's tricked him. That perhaps he had been wiser as a young man with his fresh off the boat attitude and his determination to go at everything alone. Maybe time had truly dulled him.

Blind fury, though, is careening through his body faster and faster with every moment. Finally, his veins are starting to glow and take on brighter color and he thinks this, maybe, could be his out.

But on the outside, Shand frowns at Luna. "Cooperation doesn't seem to be my strong suit, but."

He shrugs and without warning, dirty yellow colored lightning shoots out from his hands, the origination winding inside his veins, and strikes right into the side of Ivor's house, smoke rising from the compromised exterior wall as a small fire starts to smolder.

"Whoops. I️ will definitely have to be more careful."

"No! Nooo!" Shand yells now, slamming himself back and forth in the cage, not caring if he breaks bones or bruises them. His anger is red-hot inside him, which makes the burn in his veins grow. She continues to use it against him.

On the outside, Shand whirls around to Luna, letting the lightning form dark spheres in both of his hands. "Do you want to play now, or later, Luna? Hehe, doesn't that sound funny? Luna? I️ feel so... young and trendy. See, I️ can keep up with trends...ohhhh, what's this?"

Inside, Olvreign pushes open a door painted white to match the walls and Shand knows where she's headed. He wants to crumple in a broken heap on the floor. He truly wants to die.

"My my my. What a bunch of rotten little memories." Shand shakes his head at Luna, still tossing up the lightning from his hands. "Did you know, for example, that I️ was married two thousand years ago. How sweet. Dakara, don't we remember her? I️ brought her back after she died, just like I️ did for you today. And then- oh what a treat, I️ had a little girl too? Can you imagine that. I️ bet she had my eyes."

Olvreign bats Shand's eyes at Luna and continues with an enraptured tone. "But I️ couldn't bring her back. And then Dakara didn't want to stay with me much longer and I️ had to put her in the ground a second time, for good. Huh. I️ guess we can't always get it right all the time, hmm? Although my absolutely detestable need for alcohol does make sense now."

Shand is hanging in his cage now, his legs useless and the binds on his wrists the only thing holding him up. He stares up at the bright white ceiling of his subconscious and wishes for sleep, for death, for anything but this endless string of torture and watching Luna recoil from him in terror.

"Don't go prodding around where you don't belong!"

Luna demands even though she knows she has no power to control anything happening in Shand's mind. She's never possessed anyone before. Maybe she could figure it out? But does she have the time right now.

Olvreign hums, digging around the room more, looking for something else that will entertain her.

"Interesting she doesn't want me digging around your mind, know all your deepest thoughts you've managed to hide from even here despite your shared dreams when isn't that what you've done? You know everything about her. Between the information on you and Fengari stored away in here, I'll never be bored. Oh!"

She finds a picture of Dakara, well preserved in this room, but still, it was locked away.

"Hello, isn't she pretty. So, you like red-heads? Wonder if I could dye my hair. Oh! Or maybe Fengari could dye hers. I don't discriminate against people's personal tastes. In fact, I'm very accommodating."

Waving the picture around like it's nothing more than scrap paper, she continues to look around.

"Seem to carry your dad's curse for killing off loved ones by just existing, huh? Speaking of your dad, let's see, is his box of memories stored away in here too? How much can be in one room?"

Luna has no clue what to do. She needs to rush to the house and check on Ivor, assuming he's there, but she can't just leave Olvreign free in Shand's mind. And what if they run? How will she find them again?

Her hands shake as her anger builds and builds, brought back to life just to feel rage right off the bat. This time around seems to be shaping up just as bad as her first life.

"Olvreign, please, I'm begging you, stop this!"

"Hmmm... No can do~ I haven't been this amused in so long. And I've never heard you beg for anything from me. It's sweet music."

She hums inside Shand's mind.

“Please, no...” Shand’s begging has quieted now to soft, pitiful pleas at the sight of Daksra’s face. He knows Olvreign will find many, many more things in that room and then beyond that one, in the scores of others he’s hidden away from everyone, even Luna.

He closes his eyes tight. The sorrow has thankfully drained the anger from him, but he still has to exert effort to force the lightning out of his veins, to keep Olvreign from doing more harm with his body.

Outside, Shand examines his arms with a displeased click of his tongue. “Tattoos are not really my style.. I’ll have to try and remove them eventually, being here for the long haul and everything. Maybe fire will do the trick. Maybe you can do the honors, Luna, love.”

Inside his head, Olvreign comes to a ragged wooden crate full of memories and Shand yells out again.

“Hey! Leave that alone! Don’t touch it!” As he barks at her, as his anger flares back up, so do his veins. He groans at the delicate balance he must strike and the impossible situation he must strike it under in order to protect Luna now.

It’s the box with every vision, every dream, every tortured nightmare, starting back from his time in the experimentation chair, from his years under the needle.

He hadn’t felt afraid before- the syringe hadn’t wielded power over him, but what is in this box does.

He feels like he’s caught in the most painful tug of war game he can imagine, and his job for eternity is to not break.

"I'm not going to melt him, Olvreign! What is wrong with you?!"

There's a cough from the burning building that causes her head to whip around, a few drops of sweat from stress fly off her face with the motion.

"Ivor?!"

She calls out to him but the only response she gets is further coughing and her heart starts to break in two as she clearly has no idea what to do.

"What do you want?! Is there something I can do to make you just leave him- no, everyone alone?! Was killing me once not enough for you? You're supposed to be my problem! Not Shand's, not Ivor's or Nameless's- MINE. That was the deal you made with Nameless a thousand years ago."

The statement causes Olvreign to pause briefly, as if thinking back fondly on the memory.

"Yes, that was the first time I saw an image of you and I knew right then and there you would be my passion for the rest of time..."

Setting the feelings aside, she pulls the box closer, intentionally toying with the lid in a spot that Shand can see.

"Well, Nameless isn't here anymore so I can really bother anyone I want now. Besides, bothering them bothers you so I guess I still am your problem- What a boring looking box. This better be good."

She cracks the lid, peering inside.

Ouside, Luna grab's Shand's wrist, as if her shaking grip will keep the two there and force Olvreign to focus.

It doesn't.

Shand grits his teeth and turns his head, telling himself that he can handle this. He can make it through. He’s dealt with immeasurable torment for the last two thousand years and from now on, it will be one day at a time for the next two thousand, and every two thousand after that.

But when the box comes off that lid, buried thing spring out of it that Shand can’t handle.

The vision of the dead and decaying animals, every variation he’s ever seen, from the wolf to Luna’s bluebird, spring back to life in front of his eyes.

He scream, banging his head against the crystal bars until the sound of his skull rattling frowns out Olvreign’s voice and his own yells.

“I’m only trying my best to share.” Olvreign stares out of Shand’s eyes, casting Luna a piteous look and clicking his tongue. “I️ know it’ll take some getting used to, but this is going to be a group effort from here on out. Unless you want to release me altogether, just let go and continue about your business and forget about me.”

Olvreign means, of course, about Shand. And his expressions, mannerisms, phrasings are terrifyingly and undeniably belonging to the goddess.

But she can still see Shand, somehow. There is some deeper layer screaming out of his eyes, hitching his arm movements by even a millimeter, for a nanosecond. Shand is resisting the best he can. But it’s just not good enough.

Her grip tightens, nails digging into his wrist and she mentally apologizes to him in case he should feel her nails in his flesh wherever he is. She keeps her glare trained on the familiar, yet different, hazel eyes, working well past her own fear in this moment.

Olvreign is not the embodiment of her fear but she certainly is a big part of it, so to stand here and casually act defiant right to her face- well, Shand's face, but it's still her- is really testing her fight or flight response.

She doesn't jump into things recklessly like Shand does in spite of her fear. She'd much rather find a place to hide, plan, then jump into a thought-out action. But it doesn't feel like she has that luxury right now.

"You want me to forget Shand but you're going to keep walking around me with his face? Do you know how impossible that is? Don't be stupid."

Gritting her teeth, she has a hard time keeping in what she says next.

"That includes you, Shand. Do you hear me? You didn't want to live forever without me but had no problem with me living forever without you? You didn't want that loneliness but you were okay with me having it? Do you even know how stupid that is? You'll be my last and only here soon and what am I supposed to do now? Keep searching for your body and the crazy thing possessing it forever just to feel like I'm ok? I can't believe you!"

Her blood starts to boil, basically yelling in his form's face now. She can't remember every being this upset with him. Annoyed, yes, but outright angry? No.

"Well, isn't that sweet. I think I understand why you wanted her back so much. It's hard to find that stupid dog-loyalty mentality in a lot of people. Just two dogs looking at forever together."

Olvreign picks apart each memory one-by-one, savoring each sight and sound of him screaming and yet trying not to at the same time.

"Experimentation, huh? You and Fengari really are the same person- Oh! So you've always seen weird fox-things? Poor guy, bet Nameless threw you for a loop, pirate-boy. Can I go through and guess who each carcass is? This could be a fun bonding game for us!"

Shand is running out of energy. He lifts his forehead and lets it fall against the bars again, his movements dull and lacking, obviously on his last leg.

He looks up to see the slightest, faintest bit of blood on the crystal bars of his cage. His blood, coming from his forehead. The blood hisses and spits as it eats away slowly at the crystal.

"I've lived through all those dreams before. I️ can take them again, and again, and again. I️ already have. Hello, been alive two thousand years." Shand calls out to her, this hope giving him a new defiance. His veins are glowing blue again, and he doesn't seem intent on suppressing it.

Up top, Shand laughs at Luna's angry, pained outburst and looks down at his wrist to see the dots of blood.

"Isn't this such special stuff?" Olvreign shakes Shand's head at it in amazement. "Really the nectar of the gods. I️ feel like for symmetry, you should take a tiny little taste."

Despite Luna's death grip on Shand's wrist, he easily wrenches it from her grasp and shoves it near her face.

Then, without warning, Shand's other hand presses to his own knee and-

Shand howls and yells in agony, dropping to one knee, his other leg stretched out awkwardly straight beside him, smoke rolling off angry red and scorched burns that have eaten through his clothing and have destroyed his knee.

As his cage melts away and Olvreign's attention is diverted, Shand hopes Luna can read his mind- what's left of it that still belongs to him anyway- and see this opportunity for what it is.

She's not entirely sure what just happened, between nearly drinking Shand's blood and his form's sudden collapse, but she's not going to miss this opportunity. She doesn't have time to run around the house to the front door, so she bolts from her altercation with the possessed Shand and leaps through a window that was blown out during the explosion.

There's smoke everywhere, blinding everything five feet in front of her. She covers her mouth with her sleeve and drops down, crawling on the floor.

"Ivor!"

She calls out through her glove, eyes watering every second she stays in here. She can see a crumpled form in the smoke and quickly crawls over to it. Ivor is collapsed, unconscious from breathing all the smoke. With a quick ignite of her hand, she slams her palm down on the vines around him, shattering them to set him free. The vibrations from the impact cause the unstable house to shake, some of the ceiling falling, warning her of worse things to come.

His body is much bigger than his so she can't exactly sling him over her shoulder, being forced to drag him out by his shoulders, breathing in all the smoke now herself since she can no longer cover her mouth, but that matters very little right now. More debris falls on her, probably giving her bruises and a concussion, one piece of the ceiling being enough to force her down, but she shakes it off and keeps going. Her pain is not what's important right now.

Not a moment too late, she pulls herself and Ivor out of the house as it collapses, her head throbbing, and it's enough to make her collapse to her knees as she catches her breath, taking in the clean air. She has no clue if Shand and Olvreign are even still there, but Ivor is finally out of immediate danger.

His face is dirty from the event but he appears alright, all this considered, and she sighs in relief, pressing her head against his for a brief moment, happy to see him again, even if he can't see her at the moment.

Olvreign turns around to look at Shand, brow furrowed.

"That wasn't nice."

She flicks the air in front of her, causing a strong rush of air to slam him hard enough into the bars to knock him out if they weren't already in his head.

"Be a good boy. I'm thinking of several fun games to play with you but I need you to stop being a brat first."

"Just put me to sleep," Shand demands angrily once he can breath deeply again. "I️ can do bratty all day long like it's my job, for the rest of time."

He tries pulling on his binds more, but the blood has stopped melting through the crystal at the outermost layer and he is as stuck as he was to start out with.

"You know, Olvreign, I️ guess the main thing to remember here is that you picked a pirate to tango with." Shand leans his head back against the bars and takes a few moments of rest. "I'm not just going to up and break all of a sudden. I've lived through worse than you, and I'll be fine after."

Olvreign shoots him an offended look.

On the outside, Shand lays in the grass, his leg twitching. But Olvreign has been paying attention pretty well to Shand, and she draws his hand across the blood Luna has drawn from his wrist. He leans down and whispers to it, then presses it against the side of his knee.

Within seconds, his knee is whole again. "Oh Luna, dear. I'm all better. Wherever did you go?"

Her hands clench the grass beneath her and she can feel the sweat on her neck go cold.

It's his voice but it's not him. It sounds just like him but it calls out to her in a terrifyingly obsessive tone, just like Olvreign. It's unnerving. But what is she supposed to do? Just run away? She can't leave Shand like that.

If only she could think of a way to see Olvreign face-to-face again, then she could distract her, maybe strike up a deal of her own to counteract Shand's trade. Afterall, Olvreign has been after her for a century now: She does have some leverage there. But how? She can't possess people like Shand and Nameless. She may not be human but that falls outside her realm of power.

An idea crosses her mind, an idea she knows Shand will hate, but he seems preoccupied anyways, so it's not like he can stop her. It's because of him that she needs to do this anyways.

She looks down at Ivor, unconscious beside her. He'll hate this too, but could he really blame her in the end? Probably but he's made it without her for this long, what harm can more time do. She leans down, kissing his cheek for a long moment then pulls away to stand up.

A deep breath and she steels herself, turning and walking confidently in the backyard where Shand's body is, fists clenched to hide her fear and eyes narrowed to keep up the charade.

"Olvreign, we need to have a serious talk."

Olvreign holds up a finger and an unseen force holds Shand's mouth closed as they both watch her march straight towards him with sudden confidence.

"This is unusual."

The goddess mutters, trying to figure out where the change in attitude came from.

Shand doesn’t know what’s going on, but in his subconscious, Olvreign has abandoned the dilapidated boxes of his worst and fondest memories and is focused on the large window that is showing everything going on in front of Shand’s eyes.

Luna has requested an audience with Olvreign specifically, and Shand can’t guess as to why. He’s scared that she’s going to do something as equally dumb as he has. The only problem is that Luna has never been able to carry off reckless decisions. Shand works his way out of his eventually because he has no choice, but Luna.

Shand has always run away from his feelings and straight into the arms of an insane idea. And when Luna makes reckless decisions, it always pushes Shand over that edge and causes a domino effect.

She holds sway over the goddess still, so Shand hopes this isn’t one of those moments.

Then again, if the tables were turned, he'd already know what to do. They’d enacted that plan years and years ago after he’d brought that dragon snotting through her subconscious. Despite the situation they’re in, that still makes him laugh.

His ribs and his lungs hurt terribly from the blow that blasted him back against his crystal cage. Come to think of it, he hasn’t hurt this badly in a good long while. It reminds him of all those days at sea, of Hadrian. Another box he hopes she never finds.

She takes a deep breath through her nose as she waits in heavy silence for Olvreign to respond.

This is going to backfire one way or another. Either it's just bad or Shand is going to hate it and do it his own way. The has to take all of that into consideration, but, if there's one thing she knows about Nameless's species, and Olvreign's by default, is their love of official pacts.

She's assuming Shand didn't make one, how was he to know anything about them. But that could be to his benefit. She'll have to play lawyer for him the best she can and hope she remembers everything Nameless has ever told her about his kind.

"Alright, my dear. But we talk in here."

Luna inwardly grimaces at the idea of entering Shand's mind. She can't stand the thought of invading his privacy. Too many people have had looks into her mind and she can't stand it. The last thing she wants is to know more about Shand than he wants to share, but what other choice does she have?

"Okay, we'll talk there."

Unfortunately, she already has an idea as to how to get there without the possession technique and Olvreign does too. Shand's form takes a knife from his pocket and reopens the small wounds on his wrist that she had formed with her nails then overs his wrist to her again.

Her stomach turns, watching the blood pool up and drip off his arm. She can't believe she's about to do this. With extreme hesitation, she puts the wound to her mouth, allowing the metallic taste to fill her mouth.

It's hot, equivalent to drinking a bolt of lightning. When Nameless used to tell her that her blood boiled like lava, is this what he meant? She's not sure but she shoves his wrist away as she coughs, working to regain feeling in her throat. It feels like a surge of electricity is coursing through every fiber of her being and it hurts. She tries to keep the pain in, but a groan does escape her mouth as it feels like each second it gets worse. Why couldn't he be fire too? She knows how to handle fire.

Only when she stands, noticing a strange glow and feeling in her veins, does she see she's not in the old backyard anymore. She's in the white space with Ovlreign and Shand.

"Welcome! Shand and I were just about to play some games so you're just in time. Right, Shand?"

The invisible gag over his mouth disappears when Olvreign addresses him.

Shand holds his head up as he sees Luna approach. He hates her to see him like this, tied up in a cage inside his own mind, his forehead bloody and every part of him sore because giddy goddess is unleashing hell on him..but then again they’d seen each other worse before.

He’s hesitant to say anything to her. He’s keenly aware that he’s still ultimately under Olvreign’s rule and her thumb. They’re still all in his body. He stays silent, just watching her slowly approach his crystal cage instead.

Watching her face, though, he feels something burn within him and decides to chance it. “I️ guess we’re even for the blood stuff, huh?”

Before she can laugh or roll her eyes at him, he adds more softly, looking down, “I’m sorry.”

She smiles softly at him, but she can't bring herself to laugh. Not right now.

"It's ok. I'm sorry mine probably felt like fire but, to be fair, drinking lightning isn't much better."

Unsure why, she grips one of the bars in her hand, struggling to find the right words, she needs it to stabilize her, keep her in this moment.

"I'm sorry I'm not always the best at thinking of attack plans and, when I do just attack, I get myself killed. I'm sorry I worried you so much that now you're in this situation. I'm sorry for all of it."

Honestly, she feel like she could break down right now and give up. She's so tired. From death, to life, to bargaining with a goddess, the day has been a lot and she's only been back for barely an hour.

Sleeping for an eternity is just as valid a plan as fighting for years on end, right?

"Just... Trust me."

It takes a lot, but she looks up at him, pleading with her eyes as to not give her plan away just yet.

"Alright, enough bonding. What do you want?"

Olvreign appears behind Luna who notices her shadow and turns to greet her, but Olvreign has other plans. She grabs the Luna's throat and slams her into the bars, keeping her suspended against the crystal right in front of Shand. Not like he can do anything about it and Olvreign knows it.

"Come to play? I've missed our games."

Her face holds that twisted longing that she usually has when dealing with Luna, but Luna can't respond, struggling to get air. Noticing this, Olvreign lets go of her, watching her drop to the ground, a nice bruise already forming on Luna's throat from the other woman's sheer strength from being so connected to Shand now.

"Sorry, I just get so excited when I see you. You know how it is~"

When Olvreign touches Luna, Shand feels fire flash through his bones and his veins and his muscles and his eyes.

"Hey!" He yells at her, rattling the bars of his cage with vengeance in his eyes, like a rabid animal. "Don't touch her!"

The fact that Olvreign is now clearly reneging on their deal, and using Shand's power to do it, makes him more furious than he could ever be in response to her just hurting him.

"I️ will come through this cage, slit your throat, and escort you to your own personal goddess hell if you even think about touching her again."

There is a stone cold steadfastness in Shand's eyes, despite the heat of their golden glow, that tells Olvreign he's not joking. And there's something about the feeling in his veins that reminds him that she may still have the advantage, but he is far from being her victim.

"If you can be civil for five minutes and listen to her."

Shand's voice is even and venomous, spiteful as he quotes her own words back to her.

"Then I️'ll keep my cool. Pull another stunt and I️ swear to God, Olvreign. Don't make me finish that thought."

Several silent seconds pass as Shand and Olvreign stare with hate into each other's identical eyes, waging a power struggle that neither is willing to give up on first.

Her throat hurts. Is it collapsed? Is that even a possibility if she's still breathing? It's not a good time to question her life given that she just got it back and may not have it for long, though she is suddenly happy she's never had to completely fight Shand before if just doing that is enough to make her struggle for breath.

"No, no, it's okay."

She manages to croak out, using the bar as support to pull herself back up to her feet, keeping her hands from her throat to check on the damage. Between the burning of his blood and Olvreign's supernatural grip, the entire thing could be gone for all she knows, that's how much it hurts, but she doesn't want to find out.

"That's just how Olvreign shows affection, right?"

Even Olvreign wasn't expecting that response but it does pull a terrifying innocent smile across her beautiful features and an energetic nod.

"Yes! Of course! That's how I've always told you I've cared!"

Silence falls as everyone, including herself, waits for her to speak. Now that she's here, she doesn't entirely know how to word what she wants to say. But it's now or never.

"I... Have a deal..."

Shand is going to hate this. She's not thrilled about it either, but it keeps them both alive and, who knows, maybe one of them can find a way out during their "off times."

"You let me stay here with the two of you. You still have control of Shand's body and all the like... But you have to walk through my mind and the barriers I put up before you can reach his deeper mind. Each time. Each time you're bored, you have to go through me first and, if you're not tired at that point, you can reach the rest of Shand's memories."

Olvreign's brow furrows, thinking the proposition over.

"How exactly does that help the two of you?"

Honestly, she's not sure it helps her but it does help Shand.

"I think it's clear to see we don't want to live an eternity alone and we're all each other has left, so, if you let me stay here, we still technically have each other."

It begins to click for Olvreign.

"And of course, while you're here, you'd want to protect him so you're hoping, most days, you can tire me out before I get to him."

Most days?

"I wish... I know you'll probably break through my mind more often than not but at least some days I'd be able to stop you."

Olvreign doesn't really have to ask, her ecstatic expression already says that she knows the answer to the question on the tip of her tongue.

"What's in it for me other than keeping what I already have: Shand?"

Luna isn't sure if it's the trauma that's happened consecutively to her throat or the fear rising, maybe both, but she feels a lump form that attempts to stop her from answering. She doesn't want to answer, to say the one simple response she's about to. She's terrified of the future it means after she puts the offer on the table. But she has to. This is more than her, this is about Shand too, and that knowledge alone is what allows her to find her voice.

"Me."

"Don't be an idiot." Shand lets his forehead hit against the bar in front of him, more in exasperation than the terror of before.

"The whole reason I️ did this is so that one of us can be free. What's the point of everything we've both been through today if we end up worse than we started?"

He's hissing over to Luna now, but he knows there's nothing he can do to keep Olvreign from hearing. "Yes, I️ was somewhat intoxicated when I️ made this deal, but I️ can handle her. Please don't make all of this for nothing."

He knows it sounds unlikely, coming from the bloody man stuck inside the tiny cage without even the free use of his hands.

And even though it's not the whole truth, even though he knows this is going to be pain and struggle, there's still a nugget of truth to what he says.

Because, unlike Olvreign and Luna, he knows that there is a door deep within his mind, one that it might take Olvreign a hundred years to find, but he's convinced she will find it.

And behind that door is something that she will regret finding. Something that, once she's opened it and turned it free, will turn this back into Shand's show again.

She knew he'd be upset but his hissing at her, his distaste for her plan, irritates her to her bones.

"You think I want to do this?"

Blue eyes look over her shoulder with an unearthly coldness. Nameless used to tell her that her eyes in and of themselves were a weapon against others and herself. Ivor once said her glare should cut a man down in front of her without her having to lift a finger when she tried. The tightness around her eyes, the way her vision blurs just a little from anger, she knows she's shooting Shand that look. Never in a million years did she think she'd look at him with such deep and pure annoyance and anger, but here she is.

"So it's only fair for you to be stupid and make pacts out of desperation because you don't want to be alone but as soon as I try to do something similar, as soon as I try to figure out a way to make your screw-up less painful for everyone involved, I'm an idiot, is that what it is? You think I want to live alone forever? Did it never cross your mind that you're all I'll have left? That I'll need you? No, of course not. You thought it would all be fine and that you could live on knowing I was just simply alive. Did you stop to think how I would feel alone- Even worse: Alone and knowing what's become of you? No? Of course not, because you were being selfish."

Deep down inside of her she feels bad for snapping at him like this, for taking his grief and pain and effort to get her back and just throwing it right back in his face. She just needs him to shut up, to let this happen, and each second he argues is a second where she questions her actions. She can't have that.

"You're... Just as important to me as I am to you. What did you think would happen? That I would just give up on you and be okay with all of this? I need you too and, this way, we can still have each other for... Well, forever. We don't have to be alone. It doesn't have to just be you against the world."