dreamsofnoah | 47 dreams

I'll see you~.

((ooc: yeah, she's pretty far gone too. And sure! If you don't mind me picking it up tomorrow, it's 2.30am here XD))

He stalked into the Underground, tails of his black trenchcoat fluttering behind him. Today was just different, and he knew it was a curse but couldn't bring himself to care. He'd spent most of the day with Faith, but the possibility of another fight was too much.

He wishes he still had the radioactivity- he loved that so much. He steps up into the air and walks two feet above the ground. His fingers brush the walls, seeing what they can see, looking for Road crossing their paths. He smiles once he finds the right way.

[ooc: Eek! Go sleep!]

It would be easy enough to find her once he caught the trail, reading the walls or not. Huddled, barely recognizable bodies were discarded at intervals deep in the Underground, some merely a pile of flesh while others were still whimpering, all irreversibly broken. Playing with Allen hadn't been enough for her this time.

Road was having a break, licking at a lollipop she'd dipped in blood, her clothes still pristine even though her fingers were covered it, drying on her hands but still fresh on her fingertips. She liked candy almost as much as she liked blood and didn't see why indulging in one should stop her from indulging in the other. She looked up as Sylar arrived, looking amused but not impressed at him walking through the air.

A few of the whimpering bodies he came across, he'd pull up with telekinesis, let his fingers brush over their foreheads. Sometimes he'd leave cuts of his own. What he saw from them didn't make much sense- but then reading skin was frequently that way.

He remembered when he did this before, to a woman with superhearing. She told him she hadn't heard any footsteps, and he told her it was because there weren't any. It was a bittersweet memory, because while he was fond of the move, it meant he was repeating himself. Other than his signature, he really should be trying new things.

He smiled at Road when he saw her, tilting his head to the side as if it really afforded him a different angle. "Hi." He wondered if she'd really get cut if he used his telekinesis. She was so different from what he was used to. "You look like you're enjoying yourself. Maybe I should get started," he said, raising his right hand and trying to lay in a shallow line of a cut across her forehead.

Edited 2009-06-03 14:34 (UTC)

She quite calmly continued licking at her lollipop, and then mock-questioningly touched a fingertip to the side of her mouth, as if asking him what he thought he was trying to do.

No blood appeared across her forehead, because there wasn't a real body for Sylar's powers to cut into. It was a body made up of her dreams, a solid illusion, able to interact with the world around her as she chose - or didn't choose to, in this case. Oh, she could pretend she was hurt if she liked, the illusion was hers to control after all. But that wasn't the game she felt like playing this time.

"That's not very polite," she noted, a wicked smile dark against her darker than usual skin. It was something she enjoyed, though, someone with powers strong enough to actually be a challenge. It was why she liked the Exorcists - everyone else in her world came to pieces far too easily.

"Shall I start too, then?" Candles appeared all around him, illusions as well but somehow real too. They were brightly coloured, their ends coming to a sharp point, all of which were aimed at Sylar. She didn't even bothered making a gesture to move them, sending them flying at him with a thought. Not that she expected them to do much harm, but it a fun way for her to start off.

Despite the fact it didn't work, it gave him what he wanted- it gave him an idea of what she was made of. And it got the game going rather nicely.

He watched carefully as she set up the candles. Interesting. He didn't try to stop them as they flew towards him, mostly because he didn't notice until they were practically there.

He gasped as they cut into him, but it didn't last. Eventually, he just started trying to pull them out, ignoring the blood trickling out of the wounds. "What are these, Road?," he asked curiously. "They aren't real."

"Aren't they?" she asked. "What's to say what's real and what isn't~? Dreams can be as real as anything else. To me, at least." She grinned, watching him pull the candles out. "They're just some of my toys."

She looked as at ease as when they sometimes had tea together, sitting herself down on her umbrella and swinging her legs as she watched him. It was his turn now, and she wondered what he'd come up with next.

She already had a good idea what she'd be doing. She'd even given him a hint, but she didn't know if he'd notice. As much as she might have told him, there was even more she'd kept secret.

He remembered when she made it 'safe' for them to talk. Dreams were as real. And she walked through his dream as if completely comfortable.

The candles weren't real, but just like with Candace- Michelle, whoever she was- Road could make it feel that way. She had an illusion ability, effectively, although it was obviously more all encompassing than that. It made Sylar smile wide to realize that.

He pulled the last candle out, chuckling as it was replaced with clean, unbroken skin. He walked closer to her, staring closely. "This isn't even really you, is it? I could cut your head off and you wouldn't even notice." He should be running, but he knows he wouldn't get anywhere. It was too late for that, she'd just pull him back- besides, what fun would that be?

He attempted it. A quick horizontal swipe, directed at her throat, telekinetically trying to rip her head off. He was certain it wouldn't work.

Edited 2009-06-03 18:14 (UTC)

He really was fun, managing to work some of it out. So much better than her having to explain everything. She could almost see him putting the pieces together. "Actually~, you couldn't cut my head off at all," she replied, snickering. "Even if it was really me. You can't kill me, Gabriel." She singsonged his name, teasing him, knowing this was far more Sylar than it was Gabriel.

She made no attempt to stop him from what he was doing, watching his motions with an amused look on her face. "I'd say that tickled, but you know~ what I think about lying." She giggled.

"Is it my turn again?" she asked him. She didn't wait for an answer - the gloom of the Underground turned darker, resolving itself into one of her dream worlds. It was pitch black, for now, as she poked through Sylar's mind, expecting resistance but having an advantage since he had already shown her so many of his memories. Those were the ones he liked though...what she was looking for were the memories he hated, or the things he feared.

Edited 2009-06-03 19:17 (UTC)

He turned a few times, checking to see if it was really all dark. "You regenerate too, really?" he asked. And although he was sounding casual, there was still a small spark of anxiety. He didn't have any way of telling what she was doing, but he got the idea it was going to be messing with his head, whatever it was.

Sylar's fears were somewhat contradictory. He didn't want to be left out, but he didn't want to be just a cog in the machine. He doesn't like who he is, but nothing else he's tried has been satisfactory. But something that ran through all of that and wrapped it up in a neat little bow was a fear of losing control.

Most of his memories were as hidden as he could make them, but Road had seen his mind before. Having just been reminded of Candace- the memory of her sitting him up on a dirty bed in a shack in the middle of nowhere, helping him shift so he can eat soup- there was little he hated more than that.

There was another memory- one he couldn't hide if he tried. He was so little, and he'd forgotten it for so long, but now it was as clear as day. His father sold him in a diner to his parents, then walked outside and murdered his mother right in front of him. His dad drove off after that. It was that which ruined everything. It ruined his life.

Sylar turned one more time in the black, trying to anticipate and attack and coming up short. "Come on, Road- this is getting boring," he said, finishing in a singsong voice that imitated hers.

Edited 2009-06-03 20:53 (UTC)

There was a light giggle in the darkness, but that was the only sign that Road was still there. She was amusing herself looking at his memories and didn't really care that he was getting tired of waiting. Scared of losing control, of being powerless...they weren't such uncommon fears. And that memory from when he was young, it interested her. It was so easy to change someone's life irreversibly. Humans did it all the time, without a thought to the consequences.

She thought she'd give him a taste of all of them. It wasn't that Road cared what happened to him, whether he could survive living through it again and again. It was just a game to her, and he'd wanted to play. He'd only forgotten to check who was the one making the rules.

The memory started to come to life, recreating itself with all its sounds and smells, every detail exactly as he recalled it, indistinguishable from reality. The only difference is that he'd be there, in it, able to watch and try to change the events but forced to see them repeat themselves over and over, always ending the same way, with his mother dying and him left there watching.

His powers wouldn't even work because this wasn't really him, only him as Road imagined him in his dream. It was all taking place inside his head, and his body would be left frozen motionless back in the Underground.

As soon as he heard the guitars in the song, he knew where he was. When he was. He sighed heavily and watched as details came out of the deep nothingness. "You think I don't relive this every day? Every hour?" He didn't want to be here, but it was like an old friend you don't care for anymore- it was familiar.

First he tried to destroy it, to pull the diner in on itself with telekinesis. Nothing at all happened, and he should've expected it, but- no. He squeezed his eyes shut, grimacing, for a moment.

Then he folded his arms tried to ignore it, ignore the money passing hands as the jukebox drowned out their conversation. He tried to ignore his father turning away, but seeing that red and black shirt start to flap away from him, starting towards the door--

He ran after the man. This was different, this was more real than when he was remember. Maybe he could do something, just in his mind. "Mom!" he yelled loudly. "Mommy! Don't let him in!" But she did anyway. Sylar's legs weren't working- every time he put a step forward, it pulled him back. He could merely watch a closer version of the line cutting through her forehead, her being dumped onto the asphalt. "N- no. Damn it..." He could hear the song ending as the door to the diner opened from the inside.

He stood there as Virginia came to him and turned him away by the shoulders.

And then the music started up again, and he was back inside the diner. Sylar took a deep breath and went through it again, watching it more closely this time. He'd keep watching it, if that's what Road wanted, but he wasn't having fun, and he wasn't going to let her have fun either. Every once in awhile, he'd try to poke at a detail or two, and about four times in he looked up into the heavens and asked, "Can we at least turn the soundtrack off? I don't want to listen to Fleetwood Mac for all eternity." But for the most part, he shut up and took it.

"Did you want to see something different?" came a voice from right next to him. Road was curled up, watching the scene with a wide, unnatural grin. She didn't look real though, more like a crazy ragdoll made from patchwork that was attached to the surroundings. "This music is strange~." Not that it had to do with anything, but it wasn't what someone from the nineteenth century was used to listening to.

The noise remained at the same level but the scene changed slightly. After his father drove off, it didn't start from the beginning once again. Instead, his mother slowly got up from where she was lying on the road, walking towards him, blood from the wound across her forehead dripping down onto the gentle smile on her face.

He hadn't been expecting that. Sylar knew this was a trick, he knew it, but he was getting to see her smile and so he couldn't quite bring himself to care. "Mommy?" he asked, already stumbling towards her. He was still having that problem with his legs, but he seems to be making some progress. Or maybe it was just because she was walking towards him.

"Mom, are you o- please be okay." A tear trailed down his face- he didn't even notice it. "Please, Mommy..." he repeated quietly, desperate.

He'd been adamantly holding onto his sense of self- he knew who he was and what had happened to him, and he knew that what he was seeing was just a memory-- up until this. Now he wasn't paying attention.

And she does look okay - or alive at least, if you didn't count the still open wound. She held her arms out open for him, still smiling that gentle smile. Just because Road didn't feel any empathy for humans didn't mean she didn't know what it was that they wanted to see.

Sylar will find himself able to approach his mother, able to let her hold him if he wants to, and he might even hear her calling him Gabriel when he does. But soon enough she'll collapse onto him, dead again, slowly starting to decompose in front of his eyes.

He hugged his mother tightly, not noticing that she was twice as tall as him. It was how he remembered her, the little that he did, so it was just right. He was crying freely now, but that was okay, because she was okay. He wasn't broken, and she was hurt- but she'd make everything all right.

She said his name as he squeezed tighter, but then all her dead weight was on him. She smelled like blood and rot, and she was gone. "Mommy?" he asked, desperately trying to push her to the side, wanting to see her face alive and well. She rolled to the ground, much in the same way she did when she was first pushed out of the car. Gabriel went with her. "No. No, Mommy, don't. Don't leave me! Don't leave!" He clung to the body, thinking that he might just die there with her.

Road watched from her vantage point, chin resting on her fists as Sylar broke down over his mother's corpse. It fell to dust as he clung to it, and soon enough the rest of the diner followed, the walls and the ground shaking as though there were an earthquake, breaking and letting Sylar fall through, down in the darkness with only faint glimpses of other dreams to light the way until they were back in the Underground where they had started.

There was a quiet, satisfied smile playing on Road's lips. They all thought they were so much stronger than they really were. They all had a breaking point.

Sylar sat there, shuddering as the world fell away. It wasn't until they'd been back in the Underground for awhile that he came to once more and seemed to recognize his surroundings.

"Road..." he choked out, shutting his eyes and opening them again. He didn't move from his position on the floor, sitting on his feet with his hands in his lap. "Are we done yet?"

He had forgotten where he was, but now that he was back, he could use the dank atmosphere to reorient himself. He was a monster, not a little boy. He just had to remember that.

She was back to sitting on her umbrella, swinging her legs just shy of accidentally hitting him with the tips of her shoes.

"Unless you feel up to another round," she said, her tone innocent enough in contrast to the snickering expression her features were in. "I'm sure I could think up something else. I'm good at thinking of things ♥"

She was satisfied for now, since causing emotional pain was fun enough when she couldn't actually cause physical pain. After all, this was only a game, it wasn't as if it was personal.

"No," he said vaguely, finally looking up. He sat back further so her shoes wouldn't hit him. "No, I think that one tired me out."

He could float himself up so he didn't have to scramble, but he didn't really feel like using his powers anymore. Instead, he slid back and slowly got to his feet. It didn't take long before he found a wall to lean against.

"You're very good at what you do," he said, with no small amount of respect. He wanted to get out of there, but he had to acknowledge that. "You must be used to winning."

She giggled. Most people wouldn't bother giving her a proper reply by this point. Of course, most of the people she played with were usually too far gone to answer at all by the time she'd finished with them. But she'd already broken one of her toys today, and even cursed as she was she still wanted to leave something to play with later.

Her eyes followed his movements, noting how he didn't bother with his powers this time.

"I know," she replied, and she did know she was good at what she did. Her powers were so entwined with the memory of Noah's Dreams that they were indistinguishable from who she was. "I've been doing this a long time. And," she continued with her mouth curling into a grin, "I usually do win."

Sylar swallowed and closed his eyes for a moment, nodding. But closing his eyes just gave him another image of his dead mother and he forced them back open again.

He took one last look back at Road and walked back towards the subway entrance. He'd think about defending himself later, about ways he could've fought it all, but for now he didn't care. It was enough that he was walking. He just wanted to get away.

She didn't bother saying anything else as she watched him walking away. It was always strange, what she could find buried in people's minds, things that were quite unexpected. But she was used to taking it in stride and using it to her advantage, no matter what she found. If it had left Sylar like this, well, he should count himself lucky. He was the one who'd asked to play with her after all, the one who'd made the first move.

Humming to herself, she made her umbrella start flying again, bearing her deeper into the Underground where she could look for more things to do and find other games to play.

47 dreams

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