Sleep Comes Down

Sister Europe

In a stark white room, a girl struggles to wake up. No amount of jostling or screaming would wake her up.

In her dream, she is walking with her parents around a manmade pond. They seem to be inside of some sort of compound made up of distinctly brutalist architecture. The girl and her mother are dressed to match in pink formal attire and her father is in his military uniform. It is such a beautiful day... until the girl looks up at the sky. Suddenly it becomes overcast, almost dark, and there looks to be something in the clouds.  It has many legs or tentacles, some type of appendages that look like they are seeking destruction. Suddenly her parents are gone and it begins to snow a nuclear snow that burns through her clothes and then her skin.

A nurse comes in and shoots her up with some special concoction that causes her to scream for a few minutes as she wakes with a start.

Nikolai awakens suddenly in a blank room being lit up brightly, the sterile surroundings blinding him with their whiteness. His hazel-gray eyes snap open and dart around the all too familiar space, taking in the stark walls and the faint hum of machinery in the background. A sense of unease settles over him as he realizes he's been confined to a special ward for those experiencing psychological troubles. The memories of how he got here begin to play in his head. Last thing he remembers he was at Murray's bunker.
That's when SWAT came and apprehended both of them, shooting them in the neck with syringes. He has no idea where Murray is and as the sedatives start to wear off and the voices in his head start to form a cacophonous argument with his inner monologue, he becomes painfully aware of the danger they are both in. The sound of the door opening commands his attention and he sees the door across from his cell open as well. He sees the same girl from his weird nightmare being reprimanded by the nurse.

"You must have been having an intense dream again. We're going to have to check you after breakfast and make sure you didn't hurt anybody..." the nurse grumbles. 

She doesn't say anything. Nikolai watches her step out of her door and stand by it obediently with her hands laced together in front of her. She notices that the boy across from her is new and that his hair is dyed red, but a bit faded which means he has been brought in from the outside. She doesn't recognize him, but it seems like the staff recognizes him.

The familiarity between them is not imagined, he really has been here before and now he can't believe he's back. Nik's head hurts and his ears are blaring from the sudden whispers and shouts that began to fill the space surrounding him that only he could hear. The taunts and the insults have his name attached to them and in his mental state, he does not feel like responding. He tries to take deep breaths and remain calm, but it's hard to do when his mind is clouded from a lifetime of medications and tests. The realization that he is back at Hawkins Lab starts to crumple his mind like a wet paper towel.
Whoever's talking now he can't hear them. Too much noise. He looks up at the girl across the hall, making eye contact with her as two staff members pick him up off the floor. Her eyes are pinned out. He puts on his shoes and they prop him up by the door. The voices stop. He continues to stare curiously at the girl across from him with an intense gaze under his furrowed brow.

"Sestra..." one of the voices echoes as his mind quiets and he hears a dull, distant ringing.

Once everyone is accounted for and their rooms are checked, everyone walks to the Day Room for breakfast. There is a bright yellow sun painted in the corner that is split between two walls and some of the ceiling. All around the sun are clouds, but no birds or squirrels. The scene is devoid of sentient life which Nikolai makes a mental note of. Everyone gets their breakfast and when Nikolai sees what it is, he sighs, knowing better than to ask for vegetarian options. He immediately puts the ripe green apple they give him in his mouth, peeling off the sticker in front of his nose as an afterthought as he goes to sit as far away from anyone as possible. The voices start again as he eats in attempted solitude.
That girl from across the hall is immediately curious about him since he's new. Whatever medication she's on causes her to fixate on him. She makes it her mission to learn everything about him since she wants to know everything about the real world outside this laboratory. She also needs to know everything that goes on inside the ward and about everyone in it, at least whoever is open or cognizant enough to tell her their lore. This unit is for the ones whose abilities are still able to be saved if they are given the proper care.
When she gets her breakfast, she thanks the cafeteria worker with a big smile and doesn't get one in return. She doesn't even bother looking around for some place to sit because she already knows exactly who her new buddy is. For whatever reason she feels drawn to him, not that he is particularly her type, but she cannot help her fascination with anything mysterious. She cautiously approaches Nikolai like he is a stray cat she wants to pet, her eyes twinkling with amazement as she walks up to his table. Without asking, she sets her tray down across from him and begins to open her milk carton with a smile.

"I like your hair. You will be my friend," she says in what she thinks is a very convincing American accent, but Nikolai can still hear a bit of the Russian hugging the vowels she speaks. 

He blinks, caught off guard by this sudden interaction, and he doesn't say anything at first. It's the way that she sits down in the seat like it's her domain, along with the strange accent. He feels a strong sense that the two of them have a bond and that she knows things about him before he's said anything. The voices are starting to get louder as he stares at her and chews his apple. Nik shifts uncomfortably in his seat. He doesn't say anything and continues to stare at her, not expecting someone to come up to him and initiate a dialogue, but he's encountered the curious types before.
The voices are whispering "escape! escape! escape!" meaning she knows how. He swallows the bite of the apple he's been chewing, looking at the smiling girl but being unable to smile back.

"Thanks friend," he says with ease, the words sliding off his tongue like butter off a hot knife.

She practically trembles with excitement, clapping her hands together in glee before she begins to dig into her oatmeal. She notices that the only thing he's touched on his tray so far is the apple and makes a mental note of it.

"So twelve, we are not just numbers. I am Zhanet, but here they say Janet. What is your name?" she asks, wanting to close the distance between them even more by referring to him as what he likes to be called. She takes a bite of her food as she waits for his response.

He watches her with an intense stare while she eats, not necessarily with malicious intent, just curiosity and a general sense of mistrust. Though weary of everyone here, Janet seems harmless from what he can sense and from what the voices say to him as they become hushed in her presence.

"I'm Nikolai. Everyone calls me Nik or Niko," he responds as his attention is drawn towards the rest of the kids in the room.

Janet gasps, hearing a Russian name and feeling suddenly like the two of them were separated at birth, even though that couldn't possibly be the case. Their numbers are oddly close though, 012 and 013, there must be a reason for this. As she finishes up the bite of cereal she took, she drinks some of her water from a cup made out of the same plastic as the tray. Nik takes a small bite of his cereal which is the only thing he's willing to eat besides the eggs. His eyes move while he watches the movements of some of the other children, as if trying to find some clue to their condition.
Both of them were orphaned in Russia after being made into bioweapons, now here they were in America. Only Nikolai had roamed free at one point, and Janet really never had, not even back home in Russia. His identity raised many questions, but she would wait to ask them. He seems preoccupied with watching the other children.

"We're not the only Ruskis here," Janet informs him, leaning across the table, "There are three more, but one of them is in maximum." 

The voices are quiet when Janet speaks, like a captive audience, eager to listen. It isn't rare for genetic experiments to be kidnapped from the Soviets and trained to be used against them, it is however common for them to break under the pressure of the American style of training and testing.

"Ruskis?" He echoes as he finally smiles a small smile.

It's only a slight twitch around the corners of his mouth but it's a warm one. He can't help but feel like he's making an ally here that potentially held the key to his escape. There was always this sense of familiarity that he needed after a life of instability. It's a great omen that something familiar is presented to him in a world of uncertainty and confusion.

"What do you mean, maximum security?" the boy asks, his curiosity piqued

She tries not to talk with her mouth open, but wants to give her new friend all the information which causes her to at least shield her face while she chews and relays all she knows. "It's when you do something very bad, like fatal wound to the guards," she explains, her tone laced with sympathy.

She silently harbors more sympathy toward Fifteen, who is now imprisoned in solitary confinement with a light always on, even though there is good reason for that. Nik feels the worry and nostalgia in Janet's head as the image of Fifteen isolated in a cell comes rushing towards him. He has not quite honed his abilities in mental connection between two people, so it feels like he's receiving a message rather than using a psychic ability. Nonetheless, he understands and feels a great sense of tragedy about the kid, a great sorrow for the one that is in solitary confinement.

"His mind must be very fragile by this this point, it must be terrible to be that alone and to have that much light on you," he thinks, catching on immediately to how she is choosing to communicate. It makes his head feel funny.

By the look on her face, it's plain to see Janet is delighted with Nik's ability to hear her thoughts and think back to her. He must have the gift of clairvoyance in addition to his other powers, so the two of them can communicate without anyone else hearing them. This will definitely come in handy. 

"What is your ability?" she asks without verbally speaking as she continues to eat.

Nik pauses his chewing for a moment of a forkful of egg which he suddenly finds texturally revolting. "Not much of anything," the boy admits in his own mind, looking ashamed and averting his eyes from her and back towards the others as they finish up their trays. He finishes chewing and swallows. "I was raised here after they found me as a baby, just a year old. They fried me with their drugs and their experiments until I became insane. They tried to make me into a vegetable after that so that I wouldn't tell anyone what they do in here. Everyone thinks I'm crazy when I tell them. None of them believe it. Mind control, superpowers...yeah right!"

Janet listens, hanging onto every word. His upbringing is very similar to hers, only the torture he has been put through seems worse. They hadn't let anyone out since the year he and the rest of the A.D.A.M. Project were adopted out and mostly were able to assume normal lives until the time came would come that they were needed for war. Anyone else were sworn under oath or NDA's as they called them. This is all so interesting to Janet. Nikolai was the missing piece in the puzzle that she had overheard the doctors thinking about. 

She breathes out a small laugh at Nikolai, reaching out and knocking her fist against his shoulder gently, in a friendly way. She continues to speak to him in their minds, "Silly, I didn't ask you what you can't do. You can do things. You go places in your sleep just like me,  only you choose to do it with spells, don't you?"

Now he realizes it's her ability that had made her curious enough to seek him out. She's very perceptive, as perceptive as he is, and there must be something getting in the way of her reaching the full extent of her powers, some sort of drug they give her. His head starts to ache with a sharp pain that causes him to physically cringe and knead his palms into his temples. He looks back at her, blinking in surprise while his smile becomes more genuine.

"Yes," he speaks suddenly, his gaze coming back full circle to her as he receives more of her thoughts. He corrected himself and went back to telepathic projection, "and I can see into other people's minds, but it's faint. I've also visited people by way of astral travel. My powers aren't what they could be. That's probably why I'm here. They saw me fix myself and they wanna know how I did it."

Janet's eyebrows knit together in a look of worry as she watches his reaction to the headache. She's unable to respond to him as she tries to asses what's going on, but she cannot hear him. There are so many voices all at once and she can't find Nikolai's. She backs away from his mind, feeling like she's intruded on something she shouldn't have. Nikolai's mind becomes flooded with the memories of a lifetime. The experiments, the drugs, his friends, his adoptive parents, his time in high school. It all comes back to him at once and it causes his headache to worsen.
He closes his eyes tightly to shield himself from the onslaught, and he starts to rock slightly as his nose starts to bleed. Janet gasps, bringing her hands up to her mouth. Mostly everyone besides them has disposed of their trays and lined up to go brush their teeth. She tries to reach out and offer some comfort to Nik, but she is grabbed by a staff member and hauled away. Another staff member grabs Nik, speaking into his radio in code. The voices echo the actions going on, telling Nik every detail and every single thing that they think is being said over the radio.
He watches as Janet is seized and separated from him, as he's grabbed and hauled away to his own cell to be examined. Even though he's been through this process before, it is never a welcome sight, and the voices continue to shout warnings of a bleak future ahead. Nik starts to resist. He starts to fight back and lash out in anger. He feels the sudden, unexpected invasion of his mind and he hates the fact that they can touch him like this.

"Stop it! GET OFF ME! I DON'T NEED TO BE STUDIED! I'M FINE, GODDAMMIT!" he screams as he is dragged away.

He feels like a caged animal, his eyes wild, his fists clenched, his chest heaving, the voices screeching from inside his very core. As Janet is dragged down the hall, she begins to feel herself becoming unbearably drowsy. She's unable to put up a fight and the staff members now have to grab her and carry her. 

"We can't let her sleep," one of them says. 

The other one curses under his breath and slaps her across the face to wake her up. Janet shoots up, half dazed, and she sees Nikolai in the midst of a struggle. There is nothing she can do and she is fighting the feeling of succumbing to a deep slumber. She decides to try one final time ot implant a thought into Nikolai's head, just one command that will cause him to fall asleep within moments. This is the extent of her ability while still awake and her nose begins to bleed as she wills Nikolai to sleep and join her in the dream world. 

In his head, he hears Russian and he understands it somehow, "Go to sleep..."

He feels a sudden weakness in his arms, his mind growing fuzzy, his fists no longer being able to push those holding him. He can't fight this, he's being overpowered, his thoughts becoming a blurred haze and his legs starting to get shaky. The voices inside his head grow quiet and for a moment he feels relief but it's short-lived as he sinks deeper into the sleepiness. There's a sudden loss of consciousness and he doesn't even bother to stop it. His eyes blink a few times and he gives into the black void that is overtaking him. A moment later, his mind is silenced, perfectly quiet and serene.
With a bloodied nose, Janet loses consciousness, and her eyes begin to go into REM without closing. The staff begin to curse and panic, rushing the small girl into a hospital room so they can place her into a deprivation chamber. Janet meets Nikolai shortly after in the blackness of his subconscious. She walks toward him cautiously and it is as she walks that he can see she is treading along black water that he is also standing in. It is completely silent and she waits for him to speak.
There's a strange silence here, a calmness that Nikolai hasn't experienced in ages. He stands in the water and tries to maintain his balance as he looks around. With how clear everything is with his mind right now, he can see her much easier here than he could in the real world. There's no pain or voices here, no voices at all, in fact. He waits for her to say something, to make a move, to do something because he doesn't know what to make of this situation.

"Что это?" he asks, and then suddenly gasps when he hears himself, "Какого черта?...Святая мать!"

Janet laughs, grabbing Nikolai's hands. Finally they are able to communicate as they were intended from birth. One of many doors has opened for Nikolai by him accessing the parts of his brain that just knows Russian.

"Ты замечаешь - тишина,"Janet says, pausing so he can listen to how there are no other voices.

It feels so strange to be able to think without the discouragement from the sadistic peanut gallery getting in the way of things. The only voice that he can hear is his own inner monologue. He looks at Janet and nods, understanding what she's saying, the silence of this place is overwhelming.

"Как? Это так странно, где мы находимсяся? Что же мы делаем здесь?"Everything seems clearer, sharper than it ever was, yet this place also leaves him disoriented and lost, wondering what is next.

"Нет времени объяснять," she tells him, her expression suddenly growing very serious as she is possessed by urgency. "Когда проснешься, выйдешь в зал и иди направо, затем налево, потом снова направо."

Janet gives Nikolai a hug, and a flash of white light swells between their bodies, engulfing them until Nikolai awakens, guided by a new voice in the back of his head. His thoughts are back to being in English as well. Sirens are blaring and the entire place is on lockdown. Red lights flash in time with the horn that is alerting everyone that a patient has escaped. Nikolai has his instructions, now he must follow them. No matter what his "best judgment" says, he turns it off to follow his gut instincts. 
Janet is waiting for him on the other side of a window in a secluded corridor. She's outside somehow and she is going to show Nikolai how to get outside as well. The voices in his head start to wake back up and he's beginning to feel dizzy as he looks around.  He suddenly remembers Janet's words. He hurries through the darkness and towards the window where she awaits him, pressing her hands to the glass and sniffling in a vain attempt to stop her nose from bleeding anymore. She teleports for a moment to stand at his left, looking up at him momentarily before disappearing and reappearing on the other side of the window.

"You can do it too," she thinks to him. 

He focuses on what she's saying to him, his mind connecting the dots very quickly as he tries to tap into the hidden part of his ability. It's like learning to play an instrument, the motions are there but he has to channel his thoughts and intentions properly in order to make it work. After a few tries and some unsuccessful attempts at teleporting on his part, he suddenly closes his eyes, focusing deeply on the moment they embraced in that strange silent darkness. Nik's eyes narrow with focus as he puts his hands up and closes his eyes, listening to the voices that are telling him everything he needs to do in order to get away.
He feels a pull in his mind, a shift in space, but he can't make it through. Janet grabs his hands through the glass, stepping back and pulling him through it like it's a waterfall. He's laughing and smiling when he notices he's on the other side, out in the open air. Janet hugs him tightly, smearing her blood on his dull grey uniform. The sun has just set and they are covered by nightfall, but luckily their gift of precognition helps them avoid dangers like cliffs, rocks or trees. The two of them link hands, their bodies filled with adrenaline. Nik tries to regain his composure as the voices are trying to warn him of trouble ahead.
The air feels free and clear as it brushes against his skin. His breathing speeds slightly, and his heart rate quickens with a sudden rush of euphoria as the two of them feel their way through this dark night, toward freedom. The two of them manage to successfully distance themselves from Hawkins Lab, reaching the road. They begin to wander towards town, a place Janet has never been but Nikolai is familiar to. He's quite far from home and there's no way they're walking to Illinois. Teleporting would be too much of a strain so they must press on through the cover of woods, using the headlights on the nearby road as a guide. 

"Janet..." Nik says suddenly, catching his breath as they stumble through the woods, "Will the world be able to love again?"

Janet blinks in the darkness, trying to look over at Nik and struggling to see him under the dark shadows that surrounded them. "Meaning what exactly?"