The Forced Duo (Rose and Snow's Awakening)

Hyacintha had collapsed in her bed early that day tired from all the running about that she had done. After a nice bath and placing on her favorite Hello Kitty pajamas she had hopped into bed and fell asleep almost immediately, leaving Snow alone downstairs. Everything had started normal, but then around 11:40 that night, Hyacintha woke up to go to the bathroom and that is when everything went wrong.

She had made it to the bathroom, but as she came out to go back to her room the light in the hallway went out, along with the heater, and other electronics in the large house. As the home became pitch black and quiet, Hyacintha took notice of the uneasy feeling in her gut. Something was wrong, but what it was she couldn’t say. Scared, she opened her mouth to call out for Snow, but the words never came out as unexpectedly a wave of dizziness hit her. The girl tried to keep her balance, but the world beneath her slipper feet moved too much and before she knew it she was falling forward and towards the ground.

…………..

Some undefined time later, Hyacintha woke up with a shiver and a groan. Her body felt stiff and heavy as if she had been knocked out or lying against something hard for a long time. As the girl sat up with a light wince and adjusted her glasses upon her face, she would take notice that she was no longer in her room…or home for that matter. Wide-eyed, she remained on her knees looking around the strange smoky place she was in. As she looked around, the smoke parted revealing to her a scene that made her jaw drop in shock.

Ruined buildings, the sounds of battle far off in the distance, the silence of this place and the strange tears in the reality….What was this?

Hyacintha continued to look around feeling more and more uncomfortable as she got to her feet shakily.

“S-Snow?” she called out her voice cracking from the fear.

“I am here,” his voice came from her left calm and comforting in the odd situation. Unlike herself, Snow was dressed in simple black as he stepped from the smoke and drifted towards her easily enough as his eyes scanned the area with a perplex look on his face.

On instinct, Hyacintha moved towards him and wrapped her arms around his left one as she looked back at the city.

“What is this place? A dream?” she whispered to him shakily. Snow was quiet for a moment as he continued to view the city.

“No…this is reality. I…somewhat remember this place, but why and from where I am not sure,” Snow responded back as his eyes narrowed as an explosion went off in the distance.

Hyacintha looked up at him concerned.

“What are you saying?” she asked.

“I…don’t know, but the answer…is somewhere deeper in this place,” Snow said before looking down at Hyacintha who was looking at him as if he had lost his mind. He gave her a light smile of reassurance.

“Trust me,” he said softly.

Hyacintha remained quiet for a moment as she searched Snow’s face for some form of understanding. She didn’t want to go further into this place. She wanted to go home! So why…why did Snow not understand this? Hyacintha lowered her eyes after a moment as she shook her head to clear it. No…this was no time to for fear. Maybe…maybe going deeper into this strange place would help them find a way back home. Surely….that is what Snow meant, right? That this place somehow reminded him of home, right? And that the answer to getting home was in that city…

Yes. That had to be what he meant. Had to be.

After taking a few deep breaths, Hyacintha would look back up at her companion with a weak smile.

“I trust you,” she said back, getting a relieved nod from Snow before her feet were moving to follow him as he began to head into the strange fog shrouded city before them….

Hyacintha stayed close to Snow as they went deeper into the fog and strange ruin that was the city. Her eyes would drift from the cold streets up those tall buildings decaying and falling apart from damages done to them by who-knew-what. The buildings were kind of sad and freighting as their busted windows gazed out at the world like black eyes as the scent of death lingered heavily in the area. As Hyacintha kept a firm grip on Snow’s arm and continued to look around, the young man would remain surprisingly calm as his eyes scanned the area and listened to the sounds of distant struggles.

There was…something here that was so familiar to him, but the more he sought the answer as to what that something was, the more the answer ran away. What was this place really? And why did he feel so connected to it? The pair continued to walk in the silence, Hyacintha on pins and needles while Snow pressed forward with caution.

Despite the sounds of battle in the distance, the pair was able to walk without much danger coming their way…that was until the strange nature of this area decided to change that. As the sounds of battle rumbled through air, a large bolt of lightning came rushing down from the heavens before smacking into a large building up ahead.

With a large crash and crack that caused Hyacintha to let out an involuntary gasp of fear, the building began to lean and tumble forward. Gravity pulled the structure towards the pair causing Hyacintha to tense as Snow quickly slid his arm from her grasp and shoved her back to defend her just as the building slammed into the ground sending up debris and thick dust their way. The ground shifted as Hyacintha ducked down with her hands holding her head. Her eyes were shut tight and she trembling. She didn’t want to be part of this anymore. She only wanted to be back home where it was safe, but…but she couldn’t go back alone. She had to take Snow with her.

Snow!

As his name entered her mind she would shakily look up at the young man that had used himself as a shield. While he was mostly turned towards her to avoid serious injuries to the face or what not, it did not change the fact that the heaviest of the dust had covered his back side while only the remains had settled on Hyacintha. Outside of this the young man had remained standing and unharmed, the larger debris crashing elsewhere instead of into them.
They were okay, but something was definitely off about Snow as he moved from his slightly bowed position and tilted his head in the direction of one of those pulsing tears.

Hyacintha followed his gaze. The tear was intriguing, but…something about them scared her. Still with falling buildings and what not all around maybe those tears were their way out of here….but on the other hand they could be certain death….

Hyacintha ponder the tears for a moment, but stopped as she saw Snow turning to face one close to them. He seemed fixated upon the pulsing thing as he tilted his head.

“Snow….what is wrong?” Hyacintha asked as she got to her feet.

“They are calling to me…” Snow said as he took a step towards the strange pulsating thing.

“Calling you?” Hyacintha asked as she watched him fearfully. “Who?”

“The ones…on the other side….they are here. I hear them…” Snow said in a voice that sounded as if he was in a trance of some sort as he got nearer and nearer to the strange pulsing tear. Hyacintha wanted to stop him, but as she opened her mouth to call him, she found her voice lost and her feet unable to move.

She had no control of herself anymore as some force kept her where she was as a strange voice whispered in her head, asking her to trust it. The voice was so familiar, but where had she heard it before? The girl’s eyes would become dazed as her mind sought the answer.

Meanwhile, Snow was now before the strange tear, his hand moving towards the strange substance around it. If he could just touch it maybe…he could remember what he had lost and see exactly what was on the other side….

Snow’s hand reached out for the rift. The light of the strange hole hardly phasing the young man as he allowed his hand to get closer and closer to the glowing tear. When the young man’s finger’s finally did touch the odd tear, he felt an electrical charge go through his body as for a split second images and colors went rushing by his eyes. He was paralyzed and could not move as he tried to make sense of it all.

Behind him Hyacintha had come out of her daze as the images and colors hit her too; however, unlike Snow, Hyacintha let out a groan of despair as she fell to her knees holding her head. She didn’t want to see what she was seeing. She didn’t want to feel the sickness it was all causing, but there was no escape from the madness. The event seemed to go on for an eternity before all at once the swirl of madness stopped and a calm settled over both.

Snow dropped his hand from the rift he was before as his eyes saw the “other Penecia”. It was the version of the island that he did not belong to, but instead his master. This place they stood in now…this was part of Snow’s home. He knew that now and understood quite clearly that Hyacintha would remain in danger as long as she rested on his side of the board. Still, it had been quite a long while since he had been back home. He didn’t exactly wish to leave yet, but he knew he was still under the command of the girl he was part of.

Calmly turning to his master, Snow would drift over to the girl who was still on her knees as she stared straight ahead with a blank expression on her face. Ah, it would appear she too remembered the past and in turn had reconnected fully with the being that took her malice and lived upon it. As the being approached, she would look up at him as he offered her his hand and asked, “What would like to do?”

Staying quiet for a moment, Hyacintha would grasp Snow’s hand and pull herself up.

“I would like to go back to the drift in reality for now to better plan the awakening that I had long forgotten to complete,” she said calmly to the other who simply nodded before leading her through the hellish world of the Alternate Penecia Island. The duo drifted around the city for a long time listening to those far off battles for many hours before turning back to the rifts and leaving the reality behind.

The dreamers were now awake even if the world around them was still in a dream. As Hyacintha returned to her bed and Snow drifted to his room for the night, the pair would go to sleep at the same time and dream of a world where all dreamers had no choice, but to face reality and in turn prove if their lives were worth something or not.
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Hyacintha and Snow have exited the thread. Thread ended.