whatever dreams we share (rp for dawn-goes-down)

[deaths_head]

For the last two days, she'd taken him over each time he came to call. One touch, and he was lost to her power, breathing and yearning for every part of her that she was willing to give--and she gave herself so freely, so eagerly that it moved his beating heart to feelings he'd forgotten existed.

And when he left her, those feelings were gone...at first. They were dull, painful memories of something he'd had, but what was love when his heart beat turned to jealous obsession when death claimed him again. Courtney was his soul, and his property--and with a killer out for her skin, the same one that had stolen Dawn's life...

He couldn't put a name to the rage and horror that swirled in his chest at the thought of it.

It got bad enough that he slipped out of Courtney's bed after they made love, keeping her asleep with a spell so she wouldn't wake until after he was gone. After that, it was just a matter of teleporting to Dawn's location, where he appeared in a puff of heavy black mist that faded almost immediately...

At the foot of the bed she was sharing with the King of Iron.

For a second, he glanced between the two until Dawn stirred and saw him, at which point he doffed his hat with a small, knowing smile.

"Been takin' my offer to heart, Gingersnap?"

Comments

[dawn_goes_down]

Even in sleep, Dawn was aware of the flare of power just on the edge of her consciousness. It wouldn't be the first time that The Shade had popped up somewhere with the intention of pulling her away or asking her to do something for him. At least, that was how it had been in the beginning. Sometimes now, he popped up when he just felt like talking.

Still, things were different here and so she was almost started when she woke up to find him standing at the end of the bed while Ed slept beside her. She went very still, making sure not to make a noise as she glanced sideways at her lover and then at her savior.

"Obviously." She flashed him an impish grin before glancing at Ed again. "Are you doing something to him to make him stay asleep"?"

[deaths_head]

The Shade nodded as he approached the bed, straightening his duster so he could sit down beside Dawn's feet.

"Small mercy to the living, so I can grant some souls a peaceful death in sleep." he explained. "Simple charm, he'll wake when I leave."

For a moment, he just sat there, watching her watch him and felt a stirring of something like hope in his chest, a grim sort of satisfaction that made him smile just a little.

"Seems you two've gotten a mite cozier since I left y'all." he observed knowingly. "What's your feelin' on the boy, Gingersnap?"

[dawn_goes_down]

"It's weird..." Dawn started, still watching the prone form of her lover for a moment until she dragged her vibrant gaze back to the man who was sitting there at the foot of their bed so nonchalantly. It should have bothered her that she was next to naked in front of him but it didn't cross her mind to be concerned as she kept herself covered enough so as not to shock them both.

"I mean, at first it was like...being in someone else's body. Parts of me remembered her, knew him, but I felt strangely...disconnected." She spoke slowly like she was testing out a new language that she didn't quite understand. She looked confused with the situation, tilting her head slowly to the side as she wrapped her arms around her knees.

"It's gotten a little better now. Most of the time, I'm okay. He has to be near me or touching me to really make me remember how it used to be but he doesn't leave me very often." Then she frowned. "But if he goes for awhile, I can feel a chill creeping over me until he comes back. Is that normal?"

[deaths_head]

The Shade nodded without meaning to, and did only because the way she spoke rang so familiar it disturbed him. Just thinking now of Courtney, her nearness and her smile--his dead blood turned to ice in his veins, his pale skin chilled further in his imagination, sank into the core of his soul that Death had stripped away so long ago.

"You miss him." he explained quietly, lowering his gaze thoughtfully. "When he's gone, you get cold--you want him back at your side."

He paused, then regarded her with a stern, but gentle look. "He didn't tell you to say that, did he? To change my mind 'bout anything?"

Even as he asked it, though, he knew the answer: she did remember. She didn't understand, not yet, but time would fix that...time, and his bargain with her.

She'd understand when he gave her life back to her.

[dawn_goes_down]

"No, he doesn't know anything about it," Dawn replied quickly with a shake of her head before her voice softened and she inched closer to him. "I haven't told him what it feels like. Not really. I'm not entirely sure that he would understand. I know that he knows something is wrong with me but that just makes him try harder."

Trailing off, Dawn looked troubled suddenly as she glanced back at her lover and then focused on the Shade again. It was clear that there was something right on the tip of her tongue but she was torn. Just a few days ago she would have told The Shade everything that she knew and the instinct was there but now it was conflicted by a desire to protect Ed as well. She just wasn't sure what the right decision was since she wasn't sure what the Shade would do once he knew of her suspicion.

Still, it might be worse if she didn't warn him.

"I think he might be plotting against you."

[deaths_head]

The warning, and the visible struggle she fought with telling him, spoke volumes about how far she'd come in so short a time. This wasn't blind obedience or control brought by his claim on her, it was genuine loyalty. She cared for her man, was even starting to remember how to love him, and she chose to speak knowing it might risk Duvain.

It was loyalty, and trust...and with such recent echoes of life still in his memory, it moved him.

"I know, Gingersnap." he admitted gently, reaching out to lay a comforting hand on her leg, covered by sheets. "He loves you--be more surprised if he weren't plannin' to put me down like a dog so he could keep you for himself. That won't happen, though, 'cause I got you to watch him. But you earned somethin' tonight, a gift I can give you...but before I give it to you, I have to ask you something."

He hesitated, then sighed, regret touching his features. "And I'm truly sorry to do it, but I gotta know...before I grant you this reward, Dawnie, can you tell me anything 'bout the day you died that you maybe hadn't before?"

[dawn_goes_down]

"I've tried to tell him that he didn't need to do that." Dawn frowned a little as she reached to slide a hand over his when it came to rest on her leg. "But he's scared of losing me again, I know that. I guess I shouldn't be surprised since he pretty much caused a revolution trying to stay with me."

She drew in a soft breath and started to sigh until the Shade told her that she had earned a gift. She started to protest but then she was pausing again when he asked her about the night that she died. Her features shifted into a thoughtful frown as she looked back at that night with a strange detachment. At one time, it would have nearly sent her into a panic attack but now she felt almost distant to it.

"I remember...darkness, like shadows all around me. Then it felt like I was being stabbed over and over but it burned. It didn't feel right..." She trailed off, her brows drawing together as she tried to throw herself back into those memories. There was something about it that felt almost familiar now but because of something else entirely.

[deaths_head]

There was no real difference from that first conversation after her death. He'd taken her soul well before, ensuring her memories of the pain would be dim and easy to let go. She hadn't mentioned the burning before--that was new. Something had to have brought that up...

Then he saw the bite on her shoulder. It was superficial and high up...a wound of passion. He'd left similar marks on Courtney just a short while before.

"Did it burn like that?" He asked, nodding to her shoulder. "Were you goblin bit?"

[dawn_goes_down]

Dawn froze, turning her head a little to look at the bite on her shoulder before focusing on the Shade again. "I...it was harder and it happened more than once." She looked confused, her voice slowing as she let her mind drift back a little. "It wasn't what killed me, though. I was starting to build a resistance to the bites..."

She shook her head, swallowing thickly. "I don't know. I think there was something sharp...but then I was with you."