In the Shadows We Fight (for justice and ourselves)

Why didn't you ask before?

Reverie wasn't a stranger to failure and the ensuing punishment that came with it. Over the years, he had started succeeding more often than he failed, but he was human like everyone else. He made mistakes. He tried to make sure they were small enough to be inconsequential, but there were moments when that wasn't possible. His past mission, for example, was a huge failure. He had failed to capture the targets or any members of the Syndicate. Dream had refrained from mentioning in the reports that Reverie purposefully made a deal with the enemies after lecturing his sidekick long into the night. Despite how angry Dream seemed, he finished his long speech by saying he was merely concerned for a lot of different reasons. Dream rubbed his eyes with a drawn out sigh before saying that he was sending Reverie and Fantasy on a stake out mission, just the two of them, as his punishment. Reverie bit back any retorts he had. Dream knew how much he hated stake out missions. He had trouble sitting still and quiet for long periods of time (hell, even short periods of time).

Fantasy knew this, too. She asked Dream why she needed to be punished, and Dream told her that she needed to go on a mission since she skipped out on the last one. Fantasy's face turned red as her cheeks puffed out like all the words she wanted to stay trapped with the breath she wouldn't release. Dream gave them both fond smiles, ruffling their hair. They both stumbled back to fix their hair which made Dream laugh. The hero wished him luck while saying he had to attend a meeting for all the heads of the districts while they were on their mission.

That's how they ended up in this situation. They were sitting in a car borrowed from the Hero's Association. Reverie was in the driver's seat. Fantasy was in the passenger seat, her head leaning back against the window while her feet were in Reverie's lap, her knees bending over the middle console. The car would have been clean if the two of them hadn't thrown random things for entertainment in the backseat. They even had cartons of food or boxes of snacks, some of them opened with missing food. Fantasy had a newspaper opened in her lap with a pen pressed against her lips as she thoughtfully gazed at the crossword. Reverie was staring at the street in front of them. He was waiting for something to happen. He hoped their targets would come out soon to start some beef with the other rival gang. He really couldn't stand sitting in the car any longer.

"What is the name of that actor that played in that one drama about doctors?" Fantasy asked out loud. This wasn't the first time she asked him a question regarding her crossword. She had decided on doing the impossible one even though she didn't know much about pop culture. "He was a dirty blonde, I think. I'm pretty sure he's character's name was Daniel or David or some D named shit."

"Your name starts with a D," Reverie pointed out as he thought about it. He was pretty sure he knew what she was talking about, but he couldn't remember the actor's name. He shrugged his shoulders.

"You're useless," Fantasy groaned as she kicked his thigh with her heel. She wrote something in the newspaper before looking up at him again. "You might know this one. What is the name of the god in the Four Pillars religion that controlled storms? It's seven letters long."

"Foolish," Reverie answered. He knew this one because he had been investigating Church Prime a few weeks ago. Him and the other sidekicks had met Ankh who was working for Croupier. Ankh had told them about the creation and destruction of the world according to the religious ideas that Church Prime believed in. It had been interesting to hear, but it hadn't brought much clarification to their plans. It did enable him to meet Prescient and receive the rest of the prophecy. That meeting did ensure a chance meeting with Banshee, and that allowed him to discover the existence of the Egg. Regardless of the importance those myths would have, he didn't regret meeting or talking with Ankh. He would have liked to know why Ankh thought they needed to know all of that, but he would have to be satisfied with what he got.