His Dreams of Memories

16

After that memory, Julian's sleep came without dreams. Not just his memories- but his nights were now dreamless, he would only see pitch black after closing his eyes. And without anything to go after involving Geralt or his past self, his condition grew worse.

Large bags were seen under his eyes, anyone would be able to tell how much sleep he's gotten if they looked close enough. His usual sparkling azure eyes were dull and lacked evidence of any emotions that leaned towards happiness. Then there was his mouth, it was always pointed downward and only moved if it needed to be. Julian Pankratz was broken.

Donna had no clue what to do about it. Thinking about, and even mentioning Geralt hurt the brunette, their sessions had become pointless.

So far, Damien's plan of finding Geralt through others wasn't working too well. New York City is huge, and finding one specific individual would take forever. And to find someone with rare features too, people could be dressed up or have fake contacts for all they know! But he refused to give up and instead encouraged his other friends to continue looking. It hurt him more than anything to see Julian in such a state.

His boss at the café, Charlie, noticed Julian's state very quickly. The thirty-year-old was his happiest employee on the job, always smiling and humming songs to please some of the customers. So, on the third day that he saw Julian working that way, Charlie told him to take a vacation.

"You're one of the hardest-working employees I have. Take your time to find your bearings, as long as you need. Take a trip to the coast, get some air." Charlie had told him over the phone so others didn't hear all the things said. "Mike sends his love, hoping that you feel better."

That's all he received while he took the vacation: "Hope you feel better." "Get well soon!" It started to bother him after a short while. Hearing the same thing over and over. He wasn't sick...

For the sake of his friend, Damien started to stay at Julian's apartment- to make sure he ate and bathed, something that didn't happen in times like this.

"What're you doing, Jules?" The brunette was sitting at a desk with a pen in his hand, which was moving at a crazy speed.

Julian lifted his head and moved away from the paper. "Some song that Jaskier sang back then, something about him..."

Damien sighed and pulled a chair next to his friend. "What's the song called?" He knew that he wasn't supposed to engage, but sometimes talking about it helped.

"'Toss A Coin To Your Witcher'," Julian pushed the sheet of paper to his friend. "He would sing it at taverns to get some coin for them. Good song."

The writing on the sheet was messy, along with wet drops spreading and blurring some of the words. But the words could be made out either way.

DING! Damien pulled out his phone. "Holy shit." Julian lifted his head and turned to look at the iPhone. "One of my friends spotted him."

"Where?" The brunette asked eagerly.

"At your café."