Just A Dream (A Suction Cup Man AU)

Chapter 1 - Restlessness

It's all just a dream. At least, that's what Guy told himself, anyways. Just another dream, he'd wake up soon.

This is the message he repeated to himself. Even when the cold air was weighing down on him, he kept himself as calm as he could. Even when he ran his hand against the rigid stone walls of the cave, feeling every scratch and bump, each rock and stalactite, he was sure he wasn't actually touching one.

He looked around. The rough walls of the cave enclosed him in a small hallway, one of many in the labyrinth he had been trapped in. The lone sound of water dripping from the ceiling echoed off the walls. He looked at the crevice between the ceiling and the wall. A web was there, along with a small black spider. He couldn't tell what kind, but it didn't matter.

That spider meant that IT was getting closer. He knew it wouldn't be too long until it would appear.

The spider jumped out of the web, and straight at Guy. Guy jolted back, letting the spider land in front of him. That monster was trying to scare him, like always. It loved to torment him, using little scares like the spider to terrify him. Guy stomped on the spider repeatedly, attempting to kill it.

However, it still moved. Still crawled around as if nothing happened. Almost as if Guy was powerless to do anything. Guy heard laughter echoing from behind him. He HAD to get moving. NOW. It was coming for him once again.

He bolted past the spider and continued through the labyrinth, taking any pathway he saw first. He couldn't stop to think, he couldn't risk it catching him.

"Why do you run? You know how this ends." He heard it ask, the sound being closer behind him than before. He picked up the pace.

"LEAVE ME ALONE!" He yelled, keeping focused on running down the path in front of him.

He tried to wake up. He knew he was still lying in bed, struggling to open his eyes. He could feel his body resisting him, trying so hard for him to keep sleeping as he needed it.

He heard it getting closer. He focused again, looking ahead. There was a light leading out, maybe- just MAYBE he could reach it.

He was getting tired. But he pushed himself forward, kept reaching for the light. He could make it. Just a little more. A little more..

And then he tripped.

He landed on his hands and knees. He tried desperately to get up, but he couldn't. He looked down. A giant spiderweb, of course it made a fucking giant spiderweb. Guy was stuck. He was like a fly stuck in a web - literally and figuratively. He felt tears burning in his eyes. Tears of frustration. Of fear. Of hopelessness. Of exhaustion. It was here now. And there wasn't anything he could do about it. "It's just a dream," he told himself, "it's all just a dream."

Something tugged him up harshly, causing his skin to peel off as it was ripped off the web. Before he knew it, Guy was hanging by the back of his suits collar. The thing spun him around and forced him to look at it. Its skin was a shadow black, its hair was tousled, and it had claws as sharp as the rocks in the cave he was trapped in. But most importantly- it looked just like someone he knew. Someone he hated. He had seen this thing many times before, yet that didn't stop him from being any less terrified of it. Guy kicked at the thing, yelling profanities at it.

He saw one of its spider legs emerge from its back.

"No- NO! GET THE FUCK AWAY FROM ME!" He cried, before it stabbed him through the chest. His body went limp as his eyes rolled back into his head, blood starting to drip from out of the wound and from his mouth.

As Guy's vision started fading out, he heard the creature talk.

"Stop running from me, Business Dummy! You know you'll never get rid of me."