Steam Dream Oneshots

Forget with me, why don't you?

An hour had passed into driving as Kiara kept her eyes blearily on the road, the entire time being almost eerily quiet, tensions piled high with every mile that had passed.

Well, that was until Kiara let out a long, bitter groan and pulling over to the side, the heavy rain had left a while ago, lightning flashing in the rearview.

The redhead got to her feet, padding over to the huddled pile that was Anne, still clutching River's notebook to her chest, eyes closed. They weren't quite shut enough to be asleep, but then again Ki didn't exactly know. The singer knelt down to Anne's side, the red head's hand going to the brunette's shoulder.

"Anne, babe."

Silence answered for an almost agonizing few minutes before Kiara spoke up again.

"You need to get up, you haven't moved since we left... and I don't think that gripping that old book is going to do anything," She reached towards the book, Anne curling a bit more into herself as Kiara had done so, the singer's hand retracting slightly.

"You can't stay like this forever... There's only so much time we have until we reach the station and you need to move."

Time passed eerily slow now, Ki finally just sitting on the carpeted van floor, eyes drifting closed for a moment, trying to figure out what to do or say. She didn't even know what she was doing here, much less what to do in this situation. Here she was, hours after they had discovered that one of their best friends ended up dead, the other one taking off without a word. Hell, what do you do after something like this? Who would know what to do after you get hit with a truck like this? When you felt this overwhelming, crushing weight on top of you?

Kiara let out a soft sigh... River would know. She'd pull them together into a side hug, all soft, soulful eyes, deep blue meeting theirs as she said everything that they needed to hear about the afterlife or the stars.

Gods, if only it was that easy.

"... You know she at least wrote at least one thing in here on every page for every day?" came a quiet whisper from Anne, who Kiara could see had opened the book, tracing a page that had a picture of a stalk of lavender. "Poetry, drawings, pictures... anything she thought was important she put in here." Kiara straightened up a bit, looking at the book and pointing to a pressed bit of leaves. "Poison Ivy from the time we tried camping instead of getting a hotel." the redhead said quietly as Anne shook her head. "You and Ro couldn't get that rash out for weeks."

"Hey, it's not my fault! I'd never been camping before and no one told me what it looked like!"

"To be fair, we did tell you. I just don't think you two listened."

Time passed a bit more freely now, Anne joining Kiara on the floor as they flipped through the worn black book, talking about the past and laughing quietly with each other, finding a worn, knitted blanket that they had thrown over their shoulders.

It was when they had gotten to the end something fell out of the book with a small noise, which Anne reached out to grab it, turning it in her fingers, tears sparking into her eyes as she curled into Kiara as the singer peeked over the guitarist's shoulder. "Is, is that?" She looked down at Anne, who nodded.

It had been some dumb joke that Rose had made, something about sentiment as River was looking at a list of songs that she said had meant to her because they reminded her of them, or of certain parts of her life... Rose had quipped that she make a mixtape that they'll play when their funerals because "There's no way in hell we're not dying together. It'd be a crime to have us all suffer through three funerals an' be lonely for a long ass time." the bassist had so eloquently put it. "...Yeah- yeah it is." Anne said quietly.

There it was again, that awful, awkward silence that Kiara hated so much. They were having such an amazing time, going through old photos and laughing... There was no way silence and sadness was going to control them this time.

She got to her feet, clutching the mixtape and putting it into the car radio, sounds of a gentle guitar filling through the vehicle as Kiara looked back, offering a hand to her, the guitarist shaking her head lightly, making Kiara let out a low whine and yank Anne to her feet until the two were inches apart, Anne letting a small squeak escaped her lips, turning to look away as Kiara said to the brunette, "Today was... less than ideal. I know that dancing usually helps me work through things... So, would you dance with me? Will you forget about life for just tonight? Please?"

A minute passed as time stood still, another moment passed before Anne looked up, nodding quietly. "...Yes."

And it was just like that the two began to move slowly, spinning and turning to the sounds floating around them, eyes closed as they kept close, feeling each other's comforting warmth against each other, going faster as time went on and as the tempo picked up, the song ends when they had come back together, closer than when they had started, both breathing heavily as they looked at each other, not a word passing between them as they slowly inched their faces towards, lips brushing lightly before pulling back. But that didn't last long as Anne grabbed at Kiara's collar and pulled her to a searing kiss, the red head's hand going to the guitarist's hips as her eyes closed, inhaling deeply to take all of this in.

These two lost, terrified women had found each other, surrounded by the smoke of candles, soft guitars, and grief, with lips tasting of honey and salted tears, hearts pounding out of fear, need, desperation, hope... Everything was a whirlwind of emotions, sights, smells, sounds... Who's to say the world didn't stop for these two wayward souls?

* * * *

That moon has a name

In the fires of a silver corpse

And on the ice I'm afraid

Of the drop through a darkened sea

Below, beyond the world

How deep does the water go?