Debris

Latch (4)

Ch.4: Dreams are Different

Sean and (Y/n) walked through the airport with their carryon items in hand. Sean had a simple back pack, nothing much. (Y/n) had (her/his) guitar strapped around (her/him) as well as a small rolling suit case.

He kept a close eye on (her/him) glancing at them every few minutes. (She/he) kept up quite well, wearing an eager look on (her/his) face. (She/he) noticed Sean looking and caught him in the act.

"What's up?" (Y/n) asked smiling away.

He wasn't expecting (her/him) to say anything. "Uh-oh, oh yes, uhm. I'm just wondering how yer doing?"

"I'm not a fan of flying."

"Yer not? What'er ye afraid of?"

"Just- I don't know- something bad happening."

"The lass is in more danger with us than she would be on a damn plane." Anti scoffed.

Sean gave a reassuring smile. "Eh, it's not a bad ride. I usually just sleep it'all away."

"What's the time difference?"

Sean held up his fingers trying to count off how many hours between were between LA and Brighton. "Eight hours ahead. It's going to be about 3 AM when we get back. Not a far ride from the airport either."

(Y/n) sighed in annoyance. "And it's a ten hour flight."

"Hey, hey, hey, yer going to be fine!" Sean pat (her/him) on the shoulder.

(Her/his) smiled, then noticed the gate number just on the other side of his head. "There's our gate!" 


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There weren't many people on the flight, ten at the most. The closer time got to their take off the more nervous (she/he) became. Most of the time (she/he) sat in silence next to Sean. (Y/n) repeated common thoughts over and over to calm (her/him)self.

A flight attendant came over the speaker announcing for the plane riders to prepare. They both quietly stood up, gathered their items, handed the attendant their tickets, and boarded the plane.

Anti snickered the entire time they boarded. He could feel (her/his) anxious and negative emotions towards the flight. Sean was not only annoyed but angry with his immaturity, even though it was nothing new.

(Y/n) sat down at the window seat and settled themselves quickly, preparing accordingly. (She/he) pulled out a blanket from (her/his) carryon and wrapped themselves in it.

Sean finished putting his items up above before sitting down. He looked over at (her/him) and began to giggle. "Yer that cold already?"

"Listen, it's a ten hour flight. I'm going to try and sleep."

"Ye still nervous?"

"Yeah a bit." (She/he) bounced their leg on the floor while anxiously looking out the window.

After loading up the other few people, the plane began to prepare itself for take off. The captain lowered the lights for the flight, made several announcements and made his way out onto the runway.

(Y/n) gripped the arm of the chair with one hand, and squeezed the blanket with the other.

Sean though, had his music in and his seat back in a comfortable position, till he felt shaking that wasn't coming from the plane. He opened one eye looking around. He was confused as to why the plane was so shaky till he noticed (her/him).

"Yer still nervous? Aren't ye?" He spoke up taking out his earbud

"We have to cross the ocean.."

He hesitated thinking of what he should do. An idea formed but he wasn't sure if it was an "okay" thing to do. Reasoning with himself he simply passed it off as the "right thing to do." with that being said Sean pulled up the armrest separating the two and moved himself close to her, wrapping an arm around her shoulder.

The anxiety of the flight caused (her/him) to barely react to Sean's comfort.

"Now listen lass, I'm literally right next to ye."

(She/he) nodded and breathed deeply. The plane began to speed up down the runway. He continued to rub (her/his) shoulder till the plane was in the air.

The shaking ceased, and her fear turned to curiosity as the plane flew over the city. The lights began to shine brighter it seemed.

"You ruined me fun, prick.." Anti whined.

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Sean held his house keys steady in his hands as he tried to open his door. (Y/n) leaned next to the door, barely awake. Jet lag was real and (she/he) was feeling it in full force.

Sean was nervous about Signe. Did she leave anything for him? Was she still here?

"Hello?" He called out after opening the door.

There was no answer.

"I thought you said Signe was going away while this happened." (Y/n) yawned. "Did you text her when we landed."

"Oh shit.." He rushed inside and pulled out his phone from his pocket, sending a call to her.

(She/he) dragged themselves inside and barely looked around. (She/he) found the couch immediately and wondered over to it, falling face first into a pillow.

"Pick up, pick up. Come on Signe."

(Y/n) looked up from the pillow to see a folded blanket on the corner of the couch. (She/he) grabbed it , opened it, and threw it over (her/him)self.

Signe's voicemail picked up for the third time. "Damit.." Sean cursed under his breath.

"It's three morning ye idiot. She's probably asleep." Anti spoke.

"Yer right. I don't know why I thought she'd be up.." Sean sighed under his breath.

"Anyway, where's the brat at? (She/he)'s being a little too quiet."

Sean looked around briefly till he saw that lump that was (Y/n) on the couch, wrapped under a blanket. (She/he) was out, completely. He smiled to himself finally happy to see them comfortable. To him, (she/he) seemed as though they were always on the edge. A sense of relief fell on him, as well as a wave of tiredness.

"I guess I'll stay out here too." He yawned and made his way over to the chair across from the couch.

"Ye literally have a bed, and yer sleeping in a chair?"

"Anti, I need a favor from ye." Sean pulled out a blanket, opening it in front of him.

"I don't do favors. Not without something in return."

"We can figure out what you get later." He plopped down in the chair. "When I fall asleep, I need you to keep an eye on (her/him) till (she/he) wakes up."

"Absolutely not! I need my beauty sleep."

"Ye don't need any sleep atall."

"I have more important things to do than to watch over some silly (girl/boy). I mean look at'er Sean. (She/he)'s-(She/he)'s-"

A loud snore escaped Sean's mouth. He had quickly fallen asleep with his arms crossed.

"Yer a piece of shit, you know that Sean." Anti then sighed in annoyance before taking control of his body.

By far, when he was sleeping was the easiest time to take control. With an unconscious body Anti could easily slip into place basically unnoticed. He stretched his arms out, then leaned on his elbow looking over at (Y/n) sleeping.

"Pathetic.." He spoke.
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(Y/n) held a lantern and walked through the sandy area once more. This time (she/he) kept a close eye on (her/his) surroundings. It had seemed like forever that (she/he) was walking in one direction, and for the first time in this repeating dream, something changed.

The ground began to become rough and rocky, with less sand and more stones as (she/he) continued. (Her/his) bare feet weren't too bothered by the smooth stone. It was cool to the touch, and grew larger in size.

(She/he) held the light ahead of them briefly to see if where (she/he) was going actually lead anywhere. To (her/his) surprise the area was lit by a moon?

"That wasn't there before?" (She/he) spoke under their breath.

The lantern was still needed to see close to the ground. It looked as though there was a small path that lead up a small rocky hill. (She/he) began to follow it. There wasn't much else to do. Some rocks towered (her/him) other rocks felt like legos under (her/his) feet.

Snickers and distorted laughed filled (Y/n)'s ears. It sounded familiar, causing (her/him) to stop and look around. Nothing was there, as usual. (She/he) dismissed it as the wind playing tricks. That didn't last long. The laughter grew louder, and oddly more familiar to (her/him).

Large rocks towered over (her/him) that (she/he) couldn't see the top of. That's where the laughter appeared to be coming from.

"I'm not afraid of you." (She/he) spoke as bravely as they could.

"Yer voice is quivering." Anti replied, jumping off a rock from above.

(Y/n) was over come with relief and joy that it wasn't Dark following (her/him). (She/he) jumped toward him, wrapping (her/his) arms around him. Not expecting this, his arms pinned at his sides. As he was about to yell at her, she backed away.

"Wait. No. You don't like to be touched..I'm..I'm sorry." (She/he) held (her/his) arm. "I'm just so happy it's you and not Dark."

"You and me both." Anti crossed his arms.

"So are you really here, or like, a figment of my imagination?"

Anti sighed. "Jackaboy asked me to keep an eye on ye, and since Dark likes to rear his head in yer...head..yeah.."

"So we're both asleep?"

"Obviously, now where are ye going?"

(Y/n) shined the light down the path ahead. "I'm not sure. I just keep walking."

"This is yer dream, and this is how yer choosing it to be?"

(She/he) turned the lantern towards Anti. "What do you mean? I've been dropped in this area multiple times. You're saying I can change it?"

"Well of course ye can. Are ye stupid?"

"How do I do it?"

"That's up to you. Now are ye going to walk or keep babbling like a moron?"

(She/he) rolled (her/his) eyes. "You're coming with right?"

"I wouldn't waste my time here if I wasn't here for a reason."

(Y/n) smirked and continued up the path. (She/he) tried to wrap their mind around Anti's comment. Control over the dream? It seemed highly impossible since the dream was the same as before, and many other previous times. If (she/he) could even control this team, how would (she/he) even go about doing so?

Another question stirred in her mind. If (she/he) could stop being a pure heart, how bad would (she/he) have to be?

"Anti, can I ask you something?"

"I don't care." He answered plainly.

"How can I stop being a pure heart?"

Anti laughed a little. "You'd have to be worse than a demon. Being a pure heart is built up a lot of times without realizing it. Breaking it down is like knocking over a Red Wood tree. Not impossible but difficult as hell."

"So then my only real choice is to kill Mark, isn't it.."

He rolled his eyes. "Listen here, lass. Yer the only one who can do this right now. Ye die, he goes after the next pure heart and I'm 110% sure that they wouldn't have they wouldn't be able to do it."

A large smile formed on (Y/n)'s face. "Was that a compliment, Anti?"

(She/he) may have been reading between the lines but it did indeed sound like he was complimenting (her/his) survival skills. Small, but a compliment none the less. He stopped abruptly in his path and faced her. An angered expression stained his face. (She/he) began to back away as he approached steadily.

"I want ye to know something, (Y/n). We're n̷̪͋o̴̹͝ṱ̶͋ F̵̙͒R̵͕͝I̸̩̊Ȅ̵͍Ń̷̠Ḑ̸͠S̶̫͋. We will N̸̞͛E̴̜͌V̶̯̌E̵̥͑R̶͇̉ be F̵̙͒R̵͕͝I̸̩̊Ȅ̵͍Ń̷̠Ḑ̸͠S̶̫͋."

(Y/n) hit the rock behind them. There was no where to go.

"I put up with you b̴̙̉e̵͕͊c̷̥͆a̵͖͐u̴͎͠s̴̟̓ë̴͇ ̷̣͝ơ̷̘f̵̜̕ ̵̤̚ H̸̞̳̖̘̐͛̈͠I̶̛̯͙̽͑̀͋M̸͚̓." He pointed in a random direction signaling Sean. "After this is all over, I̵̮̝̥̋ ̵̠̬̙͇̥̝́́͛n̸̢͆̕e̸͉̩͖̼͕͇͊̽͑͆͝v̸̤̈́̕ẹ̴̑r̵̛͍̈̀ want to see you near or around Sean or myself again."

"What?" (Y/n) breathed out.

He placed his arms on either side of (her/him) looking down at them.

"If I see ye, I w̷̜͛͠i̷̞̅̓̑̓͒l̵̮̗͉͇͖̔̂̈͝l̵̯͚̇͋̈́̓̀͠ ̷̛͈͛͂̈́̑ṉ̷̅̓̏̈ǒ̴̼̫̯͓͎́̌ͅt̵̫̹͖̻̩̠̆̐̆͒̀̔ ̷̤͒ḩ̶̡̹̣͈̆e̵͎̾͛s̴̡̲̻͖̱͠i̸͇̿̓̈́̐̓ẗ̸̗̭͗̒ạ̸͖̒̊̓͝t̶̳̿̀è̵̡̜̯̬̯͊̈́͆̆ t̶̢͓̖̻͕͆̐̄͜͝ŏ̶̥̲̪̹̭̀ k̵̟̪̟̟͈͊̄̎ȋ̴̬̞͙̣ḽ̵͎̈́͛͑̈́l̴̡͓̓́̑͋̌̚ ̶̧̳̙̜̟͇͆̐̒͌ý̶̠͙̻͓́o̶͙͌̔̾͂͝u̴̲͖̲̤͎͛̿͘̚."

His voice distorted as he spoke, scaring (her/him) to the bone.


"Unde̸r̵s̷̢̨͔̰̥͍̜̏̔̂̄͊̍͠͠t̷̠͖͙̭̱͝ä̷̛̜̝͙̬̪̪́̀̒̄̂̍̎̈́̇n̷̛̮͙̱̠͔̞̜̤̹̩͈̑͛̒̏͂̀̊̓͐ͅd̸̪̻̼͕̎̈́̓̍̀͐̅͂̚͠?!"


(Y/n) stood, breathing heavily. With all the courage (she/he) could find (Y/n) punched him on the right side of his face. His head turned abruptly to the left, but no other part of his body moved. A scratch from (her/his) ring left a small gash on his cheek, causing a deep red, or even black blood to swell in the open cut.

Anti looked back with a large smile on his face. "B̶͚͝i̴̢͑g̷̜̒ ̶̖̐m̷̬͘ȉ̴̱s̷̤̽t̵͛ͅa̶̲͒k̸͈̚e̷̖̾."

(Y/n) ducked down and out of his path making a run for it up the hill. Running wasn't a great idea, probably an even dumber idea, but fight or flight doesn't stop to think. (She/he) realized this soon and began to go off the path around piles of rocks.

(She/he) began to think about controlling the situation. Controlling the dream. How? (She/he) soon realized they were climbing up a steep section of rocks that lead higher and higher but there was much more light than other areas below. The more (Y/n) could see the better.

Now there were two demons to worry about. Anti whom (she/he) pissed off and Dark, who could be anywhere. (She/he) now stood at the top of a rock, over looking the landscape below it. Shadows casted in areas of low or little light. (Y/n) breathed deeply looking around for any sign of Anti.

"Quite a view, wouldn't you agree (Y/n)?" Dark spoke.

(She/he) turned around quickly to see him standing on the far side of the rock with his hands behind his back.

"No, not now.." (She/he) whined.

"You don't look to happy to see me?"

"Why would I be, you want to kill me!"

Dark laughed lightly. "Yes, that would be my last choice if things don't go as planned. Although, I'd rather reframe from death if possible."