[First Year 5/6] The Reality of Dreams

Week after week went by with Damien searching and, ultimately, finding nothing to help his friend. Day after day, he went to the library in his free time, searching and searching. Even with all his drive to find answers, he still made time to spend time with Echo, though there were days when he got lost in his search that he wasn't able to.

Late on a Tuesday, he laid down in his bed, staring up at the canopy words filling his mind. He didn't want to leave the library, but he had been practically thrown out by the librarian as it encroached curfew.

So to the Ravenclaw tower, he went, his stomach complaining at him since he'd missed dinner. He didn't care; he'd been used to it before, he could survive. He rubbed his eyes before he felt himself drift off to sleep.

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He woke up late at night staring up at someone who looked scarily like himself, albeit with bright red hair and crimson eyes. "Finally. I've wanted to speak to you."

Damien got out of bed, shock written in his eyes, as he reached out to touch the boy before him.

"Don't."

He snatched his hand back from the boy, questions brimming on his mind. "Who are you?" He started with the most straightforward question since he felt that any other question would be lost in translation.

The boy smiled wistfully, "I'm your twin brother, Damien. I'm Lucedio."

Damien shook his head. This couldn't be true. If he'd had a brother, then he wouldn't have been left on the streets. If he had family that could possibly care about him, he would have grown up there. "My family is dead."

Lucedio looked at him with a pained expression, "No, you have one family member right here."

Damien furrowed his brow, stepping forward in fierce denial, "If that was true, why was I on the streets? What do you want?"

He watched as Lucedio heaved a sigh. He placed his hand up to his forehead, "I knew about that, though I couldn't do anything. I've been trapped until now. Unable to do anything, let alone communicate with you. I've been trapped inside your mind."

The boy moved forward while Damien took a step back, his mind running a mile a minute.

The boy couldn't be his brother, nor could he have been trapped inside his mind. He would have felt something. No one cared about him aside from Echo. And as a result, he cared about nothing beyond Echo. She was the only one who showed him any sort of care. Especially not his family. But what if it was true?

What if he was trapped inside his mind? What if he did care but could do nothing?

He was jolted from his thoughts as Lucedio pressed a finger up to his forehead. Usually, that wouldn't surprise Damien, but what truly shocked him was that the finger went right through his head.

Lucedio didn't look like a ghost, so this had to be a dream... or in his hea- no, just a dream. "You just need to let me in. I don't need much. Just let me take control a day out of a week. Let me feel life again. Let us be brothers again."

Damien looked frantically left and right, "This is a dream, right? If not, you must be some sort of evil spirit trying to claim my mind."

The pleading look on Lucedio's face washed away, replaced with fury. "Why? I ask for just a day or two. You deny your brother?"

Damien backed away, pressing up against a wall, as Lucedio took step after step towards him.

"YOU HAVE NO IDEA WHAT IT'S BEEN LIKE! DO YOU THINK YOU'VE BEEN SUFFERING? TRY EXPERIENCING NOTHING BUT YOUR THOUGHTS! I ONLY WANT A DAY! I only want a day."

Shadows seeped from the walls, forming into something like gas as Lucedio shouted at Damien. The room clouded in darkness, and soon all he could see was himself, Lucedio, and his bed. The smoke-like shadows threatened to suffocate him as they crept ever closer.

At Lucedio's last words, harsh as they seemed, his face was pleading, begging for one day, hoping Damien would change his mind, but Damien could only think that this proved his point. Had Lucedio let Damien think over everything and research everything, he might have accepted the deal. Still, instead, Lucedio shouted and created this... nightmare. Whatever sympathy he might have had was washed away by this point.

As if he could see into Damien's thoughts, Lucedio scowled, "I hope you're happy with that choice."

The shadows swirled before rushing towards Damien, choking him and forcing him to fall to his knees.

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He woke up in the middle of the night, screaming and grasping at his neck. Realizing he was safe, he pulled his hands back and looked around at everyone staring at him.

"I-"

Damien bolted out of the room and downstairs, hearing one boy say to another, "Let him be. You shouldn't care about the freak."

He curled up into a ball on one of the couches in the common room, despair washing over him. He wanted to just grab the few things he had and try to escape. To leave and never look back. But his only friend would never forgive him for doing something as drastic as that. Even lying there on the couch staring up at the ceiling, he could feel a wave of anger and sadness in his mind that wasn't his own.

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Meanwhile, in the girl's common room, Echo was asleep. Sleep was the best part of the night for Echo. It was when everything just... turned off. Emotions, thoughts, everything. It was proper rest. At that moment, and only that moment, was she not drowning in others' feelings.

So she was agitated when her dormmate woke her up. "Your friend is a ball down in the common room."

Wait, what? Echo shook her head before getting up. She blinked away her sleepiness and went downstairs. Sure enough, Damien was curled up in a ball on one of the couches. Echo went over to him, sitting on the ground in front of him.

Then... she tilted her head. She felt despair. That was for sure. But... suddenly Echo was confused. Was there someone else in this room? Echo's eyes glanced around. No, Damien's episode seemed to chase off the stragglers. What is this anger? This sadness? Those... those emotions weren't his. She knew that for sure.

"You okay?" She finally spoke. But Echo's eyes still looked around inquisitively. This wasn't normal, whatever emotions these were.

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No matter what, Damien could not escape his own mind. No matter how much he wanted to run away and escape Lucedio, it seemed he would always follow him. Thoughts started to bleed into his mind about how he was better off in the ordinary world. Better off living on the streets, not knowing where he'd get his next meal.

Despite the familiar voice that he couldn't place, he lay there in a ball in his despair, waiting for his own mind to cease antagonizing him. But eventually, he found the strength to pull his head up to face Echo.

Could he say everything was alright? With this battle going on in his mind? With the pain that he saw in Lucedio's expression. Even though Damien turned him down and angered him. He let out a long sigh, placing his head in his palms. "Not really."

He pulled himself up to sit properly and left her room to sit down if she wanted. "But..." he stared off into the distance, inhaling shakily. Part of him wanted to tell the truth of the situation, but another thought she would think he was crazy.

He began to speak to himself audibly in his mental debate, although in barely anything more than a whisper. "She told you about what was troubling you. What's keeping you from doing the same? Fear?"

He sighed once more before looking up. "I had a dream... or something like that. I'll be..."

Fine? Not if he continued like this. "No. I won't be."

"There was another boy in the dream. He looked just like me, but... different. He claimed... he claimed he was in my mind this whole time and that he wanted to experience life for himself. He claimed to be my brother... but I have no family. I denied him fearing for my own mind, and he got angry."

He hesitated before shaking his head, tears welling up in his eyes. "It has to be a dream or some sort of evil spirit because my family has to be dead. Why else would I have been on the streets my entire life."

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Another... boy. Echo had this sinking feeling in her stomach. She still felt those emotions more prevalent than ever. She knew they weren't Damien's.

But should dreams take any credence? It all could be a fabrication of his imagination. And these emotions could just be... Echo's paranoia. She grabbed her friend's hand and gave it a squeeze.

"You've been under a lot of stress, yeah? The dream was probably a result of that. Echo met his tear-filled eyes calmly. She gave him an easy, confident smile. Could that reassure him? Could anything?

"And I doubt anyone would want to take over your mind anyway. There's nothing but cobwebs up there." Echo poked his forehead. "But... my mom gave me a book on Occlumency. It's a bit, well, advanced. I even get a headache reading it. But if it makes you feel better, you can borrow it. And... and maybe this summer you could come home with me. My mom can teach you! And that way, you have a warm bed to stay in."

Echo stood up, still keeping Damien's hand in hers. "I don't think you should worry."

And yet, Echo hadn't convinced herself. Damien had been spending so much time researching Echo and her powers. At the very least, Echo could... look into this for Damien.