[series] Dreamcatcher: chapter fifteen
Title: Dreamcatcher 15/??
Pairings: Ohmiya, Jun/Aiba, Juntoshi-ish
Rating: PG-13
Disclaimer: I own the plot, Arashi owns my heart, and Johnny owns Arashi and my wallet.
Word Count: 5,000
Summary: AU. Dreamcatchers force their way into dreams and steal them away, leaving no trace of it in the dreamer’s memory. Ohno is one who makes people forget. Nino is the one who isn’t supposed to remember.
Notes: NOPE, I DIDN’T DIE. I’m sorry about the lack of updates (last chapter posted over a month ago, how fail am I?). Finals ate my brain, and after that were birthdays and Christmas… This one fought me for a while, but I’m actually in love with the way it turned out. I hope you all had a merry Christmas! Consider this a late present :D
(Oh, and sorry for any weird tense changes! This chapter is a flashback, so unlike the rest of the series, it's in past tense.)
Chapter 1 // Chapter 2 // Chapter 3 // Chapter 4 // Chapter 5
Chapter 6 // Chapter 7 // Chapter 8 // Chapter 9 // Chapter 10
Chapter 11 // Chapter 12 // Chapter 13 // Chapter 14
.chapter fifteen.
Jun focused in on the sound of his own rhythmic breathing, reassuring himself with each lungful of air that he was still alive. I’m still alive.
He felt as if he’d been stripped of his senses, unable to see anything, too dizzy to make sense of anything; his breathing, strangely calm and steady despite his disoriented state, was the only thing he could hear. Slowly the numbness in his joints began wearing off, and light prickled into his vision. He took another breath and could smell the air, crisp and clean. A hand fell on his shoulder.
“Welcome to the Border,” a voice broke through the haze. “The Border is the city that reality dreams of, wishing it could become. And now, the Border is your home. Welcome home, Matsumoto Jun.”
Home, Jun repeated in his mind. I am home. I am alive.
Jun inhaled again. The grip on his shoulder felt like security. The air tasted like freedom.
I am reborn.
The usually serene city was raging with so much vivacity that Jun didn’t really know what to do with himself. The Commencement was doubtlessly the most important day of the year in the Border; almost everything shut down, and everyone gathered in at Johnny’s mansion, spreading out even into the center of the city, and waited for Johnny to choose. It was the day when juniors were deemed capable and officially became dreamcatchers. It was the day that Jun had heard about from eager contenders ever since he arrived three months ago.
Which meant it would also be Jun’s first time witnessing the event.
At first, Jun couldn’t bring himself to look forward to it. Johnny would often visit to see how training was going, scouting out the best, and would proclaim his decision at the Commencement. Only a handful of talented juniors made the cut. Out of hundreds of juniors - some who have been there for years - only between ten or twenty were chosen each year. A few years ago, Johnny made the shocking choice of only selecting two. Within the past forty years or so, since the Commencement ceremony was set in place, the number of rookies chosen was less than five.
Yet his hands trembled as he pushed them through the arm holes of his white long-sleeved shirt (matching his white pants - it was the typical everyday attire in the Border. It wasn’t mandatory, but no one really bothered with fashion, save for people like Domoto Tsuyoshi-san, who seemed to wear at least five different colors every day). This was a part of him now, rooted deeply into who he was. One day, maybe, he would be chosen in the Commencement. Or maybe he would join the others who didn’t quite make the cut and work elsewhere in the city, such as in security or as a messenger. No matter where Jun ended up, he would be watching history be made as new dreamcatchers stepped forward. And everyone - from the disgruntled who weren’t chosen to the juniors and catchers to Johnny himself - knew that the Border thrived off of the dreamcatchers. Dreamcatchers were the past, present, and future.
An abrupt, sharp jab in the side nearly knocked Jun flat onto his face. “Sorry,” Toma mumbled from on top of him, clumsily climbing off the boy he crashed into and helping him back to his feet. Ikuta Toma was a year younger than Jun and a pain sometimes - usually in the literal sense - but they had become close friends since meeting. Toma entered the Border on the same day as Jun, and Jun had secretly been thankful for having Toma there to train with. The other juniors seemed nice enough, but with Commencement, everyone was putting competition before friendship, vying for attention.
“You ready?” Toma asked, combing his hair down with his fingers to straighten the locks out. He ended up making them even more mangled. “The streets are already packed with people. We won’t be able to see anything if we don’t leave now, and I don’t want to miss our first Commencement!”
Jun brushed the nonexistent dirt off his pants before slapping Toma’s hands aside lightly, fixing the mess for him. “I’m ready. But it makes me nervous just thinking about who might get picked, even though it’s not me I need to worry about. Who do you think? Takizawa-kun and Tsubasa-kun?”
“Absolutely. And even though they definitely won’t get picked, a lot of rookies are crowd favorites this year. Especially Yamapi. And even those guys who just joined a month ago, Kamenashi-kun and Akanishi-kun.”
Jun furrowed his eyebrows. “Do you think that’s how it works? Johnny just chooses his favorites, or the most popular ones?”
After glancing outside quickly, Toma motioned for Jun to follow him and hurried outside, towards Johnny’s house. “Well, his own favorites, maybe, but definitely not the most popular. Don’t you remember what we heard about the Commencement from two years ago, when Johnny picked these two obscure rookies? People are still questioning that one. I even heard that Nakai-san was so upset that he started chasing one of them around, and Taka-san had to throw a watermelon at him to stop him! Man, I wish I could’ve seen that!”
Of course - that infamous year when only two dreamcatchers were chosen… two rookies overlooked by everyone else, for that matter, practically became a subject of taboo. No one would dare outright doubt Johnny’s decisions, but whenever the two catchers were brought up in discussion, it always came around to questioning their abilities, even now after they’ve both proved they were worthy to be chosen. In the span of two years, Machida Shingo and Ohno Satoshi have become two of the best dreamcatchers in history. Machida-kun had yet to return with a stone that wasn’t of magnificent quality, and Jun has overheard his teachers multiple times saying they wished they knew Machida’s secret, that they could somehow get him to come and teach (they say all of this when they think no one is listening, of course).
And Ohno-kun… he was nothing less than a prodigy.
To be honest, out of all of the skilled dreamcatchers there were, it was Ohno that Jun admired. Most juniors aspired to be like the Border’s pride and joy, the five catchers who formed the special group SMAP, which included the biggest objector to Ohno’s position, Nakai. Others wanted to be like the charming Kimura or the flamboyant Shingo. Ohno-kun might not have been the greatest dreamcatcher, but he had an innate gift. Jun couldn’t believe that someone could catch dreams so naturally, especially when Jun felt as if he had no natural ability himself. He worked harder than anyone, but he would never be able to keep up with what Ohno can do when he’s not even trying.
Machida and Ohno were amazing, and it wasn’t fair that they were discriminated against so much. It didn’t even make sense; the Border was full of trustworthy, kind people. Everyone was friendly (even those preparing for Commencement - they just would keep a distance to avoid losing focus). Jun has never heard of any other prejudice like it in the Border.
His thoughts were silenced together with the hush of the crowd as the entire city seemed to hold its breath. Toma had managed to push them to the front while Jun was spacing out, and he had a clear view of everything. They were standing on the cobblestone circle in front of Johnny’s house, beside the round plot of flowers in the center. Before them, grandiose stairs rose up to the entrance of Johnny’s mansion, and along the edges of the stairs stood the Border’s heroes - the members of SMAP, but also the legendary Kondo Masahiko, who has been at the top for a long, long time.
Finally, there was sound, but there was too much - the crowd roared as the double doors creaked and opened completely, Johnny stepping out. Jun knew that all across the Border, this image before his eyes was being broadcasted to every TV and radio, projected on giant screens on every corner of the city. And he’d seen Johnny before countless times - their leader wasn’t some absent tyrant or anything; he actively came and communicated with the Border’s citizens, including Jun. The man was odd and hard to keep up with, but he was someone the city respected and admired, not idolized. Even SMAP and Kondo-san were people he saw often.
But there, he was surrounded by throngs of cheers as if the stairway was a stage and Johnny was the star. It was strange, unnatural, but thrilling beyond belief. Jun’s thankful he came to see Commencement in person, because there was no way a screen could capture the energy.
The sun was beginning to set behind the manor, and the rays of color that spread out only made the scene more dramatic. Johnny lifted his hands and the city fell into quiet once again, pausing for an instant. Then, he spoke.
“Hello, my friends. I welcome you to our beloved Border’s glorious celebration: the day of Commencement, when our young, hardworking juniors are given a glimpse of their future, of what they are aiming towards; or, for some, it is the grand beginning of their lives as dreamcatchers.”
In a normal conversation, Johnny would never have been so formal - he’d use nonsensical English and crack bad jokes, speaking on the same level as everyone else. He was rarely this eloquent. Jun expected clapping or cheering to resume, but the attention of the entire city was on Johnny. No one dared to interrupt.
“All of you are an important part in our Utopia. We see the humans and the shape their world is in, full of foolish ideas about raging wars for the sake of peace, and full of fruitless dreams and consuming emotions. But our Utopia is the world reality dreams of, wishing it could become. We have crossed over the border from despair into a community that is peaceful and content, separated from that darkness. And all of you have an important role to play in protecting this “Border” - after all, without the teachers, how would our community grow? Without security and researchers, how would we be safe? Without the shopkeepers and builders and everything else done by the good people of our city, how would we survive?
“The dreamcatchers, including those who will be initiated today, are not more important, no. But their job is a special one: to catch dreams, to mediate between worlds and keep the Border in balance. And so it is with pleasure that I announce the names of the seven new dreamcatchers.”
A murmur went around the crowd, but was hushed quickly. Jun frowned. So this year there would be a fewer number of dreamcatchers commencing. Last year eighteen juniors were picked. But from what Jun’s heard, the number is never predictable. People seemed to have expected more this year, so maybe it’s just from being a rookie, but Jun isn’t too surprised.
The names were listed off in succession, bursts of cheering in between. Jun smiled when his prediction proved right, and Takizawa-kun and Tsubasa-kun ran through the crowds to form a line on the steps beside Johnny. Oguri Shun was called next, another unsurprising choice. The next three Jun didn’t know personally, but he recognized them as Machida-kun’s good friends.
“And the last junior to commence is Matsumoto Jun.”
Personally, Jun’s happy with the choices. Even though a lot of the other juniors were talented, Jun could tell that the ones who were chosen are on a higher level somehow, and-
Toma clutched his shoulder and shook it hard. “Jun,” he breathed, voice shaky with a mix of laughter and disbelief. “Jun, it’s you!”
The words didn’t hit him until then, as if Johnny was somewhere far off and his echo was only then reaching Jun’s ears: Matsumoto Jun.
No one cheered for him.
Knees buckling, Jun slowly walked to the stairs, then climbed them one at a time. The entire city’s eyes were on him, and he told himself with each step, this is wrong. I’m not ready for this. Why me? When he reached his place, the city erupted in bedlam, but the rest of the night’s events became nothing more than a blur. He couldn’t think outside of the mayhem within his own mind.
“Out to go do some official dreamcatcher business?” Toma joked the next morning, running up to him with a grin as Jun walked down the road.
Jun shrugged weakly. “I’m meeting with Taka-san and Nakai-san. They’re supposed to assign me to someone who can help me get used to entering real dreams or something. I don’t really know what’s going on.”
“Well, it’s still incredible. Johnny made a good choice with you! You’re the hardest working person I know. You deserve it.”
Hard work doesn’t equal talent, Jun thought bitterly, but he held his tongue. They rounded a corner and nearly bumped into Kamenashi and Akanishi.
“Hey guys!” Toma smiled and waved, but the two juniors ignored Toma, glaring at Jun as they walked by wordlessly.
Jun’s stomach sank.
After a bit of searching, Jun finally found a secluded, unoccupied room in the administration building where he could escape. He fell to the floor and hugged his knees, feeling like a traitor and knowing that his name should never have been called.
But his self-pity only lasted for a second. A sigh sounded out, making Jun jump. “Hello?” he said hesitantly, not seeing anyone nearby.
A head popped up from behind an unused desk in the corner, revealing a mop of tousled hair. The hidden figure crawled out slowly, and Jun gasped at the familiar face. Jun gaped as the man tilted his head and blinked curiously, giving him a shy smile.
“Hello. Who are you?” Ohno asked, walking on his knees a little closer to Jun.
“Matsumoto Jun. We’ve met before, once… um, what were you doing in here?”
“They wanted me to do paperwork or something, so I hid,” Ohno replied as if it were obvious. “Matsujun, huh? Aren’t you one of the new dreamcatchers? The rookie?”
Jun sighed heavily. There was no use in denying it. Wait, Matsujun? “Uh, yeah, I am. I was told to come meet Nakai-san, but he was busy, so they asked me to wait.”
“Nakai-kun…” Ohno echoed. Jun froze, kicking himself mentally. Everyone knew that Nakai-san and Ohno-kun were at odds with each other. Bringing him up was the stupidest thing he could have done. But much to his surprise, Ohno leaned in and giggled, whispering in Jun’s ear, “When you talk to him, leave off -san and -kun. Just call him Nakai. It’s really funny.”
Jun must have been giving him a look of utter horror, because Ohno quickly said, “Oh, right, sorry. Our fights are pretty much all for show, although he does actually get mad at me a lot. It’s all Taka-san, really. He said something to Nakai about how no one would listen to him unless they feared him a little, so he fed me lines and started the fight thing, but now Nakai’s mad ‘cause he thinks now since I have the guts to stand up to him anyone can. So, yeah.”
“Right,” Jun said as he stood up, not really understanding at all. “Well, I guess I should go and see if he’s available now. I’m supposed to be assigned an instructor.”
Ohno looked up at him, alert. “An instructor for entering actual dreams for the first time.”
When Jun nodded, Ohno got to his feet. “I could be your instructor.”
Jun felt dizzy. The dreamcatcher he’s admired since the beginning was offering to train him? It was almost as mind-blowing as suddenly becoming a catcher. “B-but why would you do that for me?”
“How has everyone reacted to you becoming a dreamcatcher?”
Jun scowled. “I wouldn’t know. Almost everyone ignores me now and looks at me like it’s my fault I got chosen for this damn thing, so who knows what they really think?”
Jun stopped himself, startled at his own outburst. But Ohno didn’t seem taken aback; he just looked sad. “I don’t think I’d be able to teach you much about actual dreamcatching stuff. I just know that I would rather have had someone there to help me handle being rejected by the city I love more than anything.”
When Jun made the request to Nakai-san, he considered speaking impolitely just to get a reaction. Nakai pulled out a water gun from under his desk and soaked Jun with it, but Taka-san was laughing in the background and signing the approval papers, and Jun decided that walking home completely drenched was worth it.
Ohno was drawing again when Jun returned, flopping onto the couch with a moan. They had come to rely on each other over the past couple of years, and even though Ohno was no longer Jun’s instructor, he was his best friend. After spending all of their time at each other’s homes, they finally decided to just rent an apartment together. Jun didn’t want to before because he didn’t want to leave Toma, but Toma grew closer to Shun, and now they were living together as well.
“Tough job?” Ohno asked somewhat absently, erasing a line he had just drawn.
“This guy I’ve been catching for has been having the most exhausting dreams I’ve ever done,” Jun muttered. “I can’t even figure out why my energy gets drained so quickly. Maybe I should just go and ask to switch dreamers, because I’m scheduled for him again tomorrow night, and I’m sick of trying to keep up with him.”
Ohno glanced up from his sketchbook, tapping the pencil’s eraser against his lip thoughtfully. “Why don’t we trade?” he suggested. “I’ll take your dreamer for tomorrow and you take mine. That way, I’ll be able to see what it is that’s going wrong. You’ll have no trouble with my dreamer - she’s pretty young and her dreams are always easy.”
The proposition was perfect.
At least, the proposition was nearly perfect. But it wasn’t Ohno’s fault. There was no way Ohno could have known.
Humans are fickle creatures, completely unpredictable. Dreamcatchers were trained to be able to handle whatever the dream imposed upon them. They were mentally steeled and emotionally numb. It’s just that when you train yourself to handle anything and find yourself facing true terror for the first time, it’s easy to forget everything and let your guard down.
And it had seemed innocent enough. The girl was probably no more than eight or nine years old, hair braided in pigtails, wearing a yellow sundress. The palace she had dreamed up was extravagant, with a roller coaster instead of stairs or an elevator. It could have been anything - a traumatizing event, a shadow she believed to be a monster in her closet, a horror movie she watched before bed - anything at all that inspired her imagination to produce another character in the castle: a deranged killer who had found a knife somehow and had taken control of the roller coaster.
Jun could hear that sweet girl screaming in the background as the killer plunged the knife deep into Jun’s stomach, buried to the hilt. He couldn’t hear the sound of his body smacking against the floor, or the sound of the little girl’s cries, or even his own breathing - he could only feel the wound scorching him alive. All other senses seemed to have died off.
Dreamcatchers cannot die as the result of a dream. They can, however, feel pain and may experience stronger emotional connections than usual-
Oh, no. Jun wouldn’t die. He would just lie there, bleeding out endlessly, suffering through the pain until the little girl woke up somehow.
In order to protect oneself from the possible psychological strains of a dream, the dreamcatcher should cut off that emotional connection. Linking oneself is required to catch a dream, thus the dreamer takes on the emotional baggage of the dreamer. This is why juniors train for elongated periods of time, to discover how to detach themselves from the emotions while simultaneously holding on to the dream.
Jun squeezed his eyes shut, trying to control his gasping breaths. He repeated every detail, every single thing he learned about that he could remember. The words became a mantra. What did they mean again?
By achieving this, the dreamcatcher essentially becomes nothing more than a bystander. They have linked to the dream, so they may interact and collect the essence of the dream, but without emotional involvement. They are nothing more than a surveillance camera that records the images to a network without truly experiencing what they are seeing.
Since when was his blood so black, so thick? It covered the entire floor now, wall to wall. It had even begun crawling up surfaces. Soon, it would flood the entire room.
Nothing more than a bystander.
Wouldn’t that be nice, Jun thought, or maybe he said it like a dying breath. Then he could drown.
Nothing more than a bystander.
He wondered if the little girl managed to escape.
Nothing more than a bystander.
By the time the black blood rose high enough to cover him entirely, he thought maybe the pain would lesson. It didn’t. He was going to die there. Or was he dead already? No, you can’t die, the blood cackled. You just get to lie here and drown in your pain.
Nothing more than a-
Dream?
No, reality. No, not that; not quite. Space, time converted into nihilism and ate him up. The blood said so. It told him when it went into his ears as he was crying out in pain. It said no one will hear you if you scream. They’ll only hear the silence.
Fountain blood flowing into the network and eating up dreams. This isn’t a dream, it’s a corner of hell in his mind. Who was he again? Right, he is me. Who am I again?
Convergence of dream and real. Nothing is either, but both are everything what is that. Yes, he knows, just like I know, because we know. It’s on the record, camera-san. Put it on repeat in black and white and color, but don’t forget to turn off the lights. Because this is really not real reality but it’s real, oh is it real, even though it’s not.
Someone is singing watch out for haunted blood because they’re filthy liars trying to scream the silence into the network I can hear… you’re just a fucking bystander, you fucking liar.
Radiating existence into dreaming reality I can hear singing cut yourself off, cut yourself up, bleed a little where am I? Ashes to ashes, dust to dust what happened? How did I get here? He’s calling my name dreams to ashes, reality to dust, me to blood Matsujun. Matsumoto Jun. That’s who I am. If the he’s stop singing to me, I can hear it.
When Jun opened his eyes, the lights were dim, but the room was bright enough to make out Ohno’s tear-stricken face, lips quivering as they moved and created a song. Jun could feel the warmth of Ohno’s hand and knew their fingers were interlocked, and somewhere in his muddled mind he knew that he shouldn’t be able to feel this warmth. Ohno’s voice was beautiful; he’s singing the nightmares away.
It’s on the record, camera-san. It’s a silent scream.
The next time Jun awakened, it wasn't Ohno there beside him, but Toma. Toma was holding Jun’s hand, too, but Jun couldn’t really feel it.
“Toma?” he managed to rasp out. “What… what’s going on?”
Toma leaned over and hugged him loosely. “Oh Jun, you’re okay you’re okay you’re okay you’re-”
“Yes, I’m okay, now please, Toma, what happened?”
Toma grinned, relieved. “That’s the Jun I know! We were so worried about you. You went into a dream and didn’t come back. We managed to get you out, but you… you were babbling nonsense and wouldn’t respond to anything we said, and eventually you fell asleep, but then you wouldn’t wake up… you’re in the hospital wing. You’ve been here for an entire week now. We didn’t… we didn’t know if you would ever wake up.”
Jun closed his eyes again, trying to remember. Ohno. “Ohno was here,” Jun said slowly, pushing himself up despite Toma’s protests. When he was sitting upright, he said it again. “Ohno was here. I heard him; he was singing. Where is he?”
Toma ducked his head, biting his lip, and somehow Jun knew. “It wasn’t Ohno’s fault this happened,” Jun insisted. “Ohno only switched dreamers with me because I wanted to, and the girl never gave anyone problems before. It ended up being a nightmare and I lost control of my emotions, okay? That’s all, it was just-”
“You almost turned into a ghost, Jun.”
The words hit him so hard it hurt. When dreamcatchers lose control of their emotions, they are at risk of losing themselves to the dream entirely, becoming a part of it and never recovering. Wasn’t that exactly what Jun had just experienced?
Jun turned his head to Toma, but Toma was already heading out the door. Before he left, though, he stopped, gazing sorrowfully at Jun with a bitter smile. “I can’t say, I’m not… Please, Jun, just know that what happened to you isn’t the reason.”
Once the door was shut, Jun forced his aching body out of bed. They did something to Ohno. Jun had to find him.
And Jun searched.
When he arrived home, all of the things Ohno would consider essential - things like his sketchbook and the black bracelet Jun gave him on his birthday - were gone. He went to all of Ohno’s favorite places, but there was no trace of him. When he asked around, they would dodge the question, or just shake their heads as if telling Jun to drop it.
Like hell he would.
He searched for a week, then two, and by the third week of futilely looking around in the same way, he was sick of playing around.
He didn’t bother knocking on Toma’s door, didn’t care about his friend’s protests. He dragged him into a private room and crossed his arms over his chest, teeth clenched as he growled. “What did they do to Ohno?”
“I’m not supposed to tell you,” Toma sighed, probably realizing that he would end up doing it anyway. He covered his face with the palms of his hands and took a deep breath before finally admitting, “Ohno… broke a rule, and is being punished for it. They’ve pretty much suspended him and are forcing him to stay in the real world until they figure out what to do. I made sure to tell him you were safe, but he’s… he’s killing himself with guilt. He can hide it from Johnny and the higher-ups, but I can tell that he won’t make it at this rate. That’s why I’m telling you, Jun.”
Jun started pacing back and forth, swearing with every turn. “Switching schedules with someone isn’t smiled upon, no, but damnit, it’s not illegal. And I told you, Toma, he-”
“And I told you,” he whispered, “that isn’t the reason.”
Jun didn’t stop pacing until he looked back at Toma and saw his expression, one of pure sadness and dread that Jun had never seen on his friend before. Jun hadn’t seen it on anyone in the Border before.
Toma cleared his throat and spoke slowly, softly. “Ohno rescued you, Jun. He noticed you hadn’t returned and had a bad feeling about the entire thing, so he went to the dreamer to check up on you, since he knew you didn’t have much energy. By that time, the little girl’s parents had tried to wake her up, but couldn’t. They were sending her to the hospital when Ohno got there. And when something like that happens, it’s almost positively a ghost. You know what protocol is - we leave the dreamer and the dreamcatcher alone. You can’t enter a dream with a ghost already in it. It’s dangerous for two catchers to enter at a time, but insane when there’s a ghost. You wouldn’t be able to control anything. We are lawfully bound to wait. There have been times when the dreamer never woke up, but usually, the dreamer does wake up, which forces the ghost out, and by then, we’re prepared to catch the ghost.”
“The dreamer is usually fine,” Jun continued, closing his eyes with pained comprehension. “But there has never been an instance when the catcher fully recovered. A little, maybe, but never entirely. Ohno… Ohno entered the dream.”
Toma nodded, and this only made Jun angrier. “So what if he did? He saved me, didn’t he? He did the impossible and saved me from becoming a ghost. We should be thanking him. We should be praising him, not-”
“The girl didn’t make it, Jun.”
Something in Jun’s mind crashed. “…What?”
“The little girl. The dreamer, Jun. She never woke up. After Ohno came out with you, the stress on her mind… she’s dead, Jun. Ohno is being penalized for killing a dreamer.”
Jun found Ohno staring out into an expanse of ocean, sitting on the docks. The sea was deceivingly calm, the waves coming toward but never touching. No one could see them, but when night crept up to morning and the fishermen began coming in or heading out, Jun and Ohno pretended they couldn’t see them, either. Jun just held onto Ohno and let him cry for the loss of a human, a little girl who became a victim to a distant world.
Ohno saved me, Jun reminds himself as he holds Ohno tightly against him. The older man, once so strong-hearted and sure, Jun’s pillar of support, felt broken in his arms. And now, I will save Ohno.
---
A/N: Oh boy. Did anyone see that one coming?
Again, I'm so sorry this took so long! OTL I spent most of my time working on a contest entry /shameless pimping and once finals rolled around... 0_0 But as I said before, I love this series too much to let it die, so no matter how long it takes, I will finish it. I can't promise anything, but at least for awhile, I'm going to try to start posted a chapter a week again (or every other week, at least).
So, thoughts on this chapter? We saw some craziness here. But now we know what the "incident" we've been hearing about was, and we saw into the nature of these ghosts. We even know more about the Border now... but how much of what Johnny was saying was the truth? What happened in the time after the incident (that we'll find out in the next part)? Jun started going a little insane there, but was there a deeper, hidden meaning in some of the things he was saying?
The next chapter will go back to Ohno - last we saw, he was with Tsuyoshi at an unidentified woman's house, left off with Tsuyoshi claiming she was the "first to remember". Which means we'll see who she is, and what sort of things she'll reveal.
P.S. - I haven't forgotten about the drabbles I promised, honestly! I'll probably be working on those next.
P.P.S. - Writing crazy people is so much more fun than it should be *cackles mischievously*
Pairings: Ohmiya, Jun/Aiba, Juntoshi-ish
Rating: PG-13
Disclaimer: I own the plot, Arashi owns my heart, and Johnny owns Arashi and my wallet.
Word Count: 5,000
Summary: AU. Dreamcatchers force their way into dreams and steal them away, leaving no trace of it in the dreamer’s memory. Ohno is one who makes people forget. Nino is the one who isn’t supposed to remember.
Notes: NOPE, I DIDN’T DIE. I’m sorry about the lack of updates (last chapter posted over a month ago, how fail am I?). Finals ate my brain, and after that were birthdays and Christmas… This one fought me for a while, but I’m actually in love with the way it turned out. I hope you all had a merry Christmas! Consider this a late present :D
(Oh, and sorry for any weird tense changes! This chapter is a flashback, so unlike the rest of the series, it's in past tense.)
Chapter 1 // Chapter 2 // Chapter 3 // Chapter 4 // Chapter 5
Chapter 6 // Chapter 7 // Chapter 8 // Chapter 9 // Chapter 10
Chapter 11 // Chapter 12 // Chapter 13 // Chapter 14
.chapter fifteen.
Jun focused in on the sound of his own rhythmic breathing, reassuring himself with each lungful of air that he was still alive. I’m still alive.
He felt as if he’d been stripped of his senses, unable to see anything, too dizzy to make sense of anything; his breathing, strangely calm and steady despite his disoriented state, was the only thing he could hear. Slowly the numbness in his joints began wearing off, and light prickled into his vision. He took another breath and could smell the air, crisp and clean. A hand fell on his shoulder.
“Welcome to the Border,” a voice broke through the haze. “The Border is the city that reality dreams of, wishing it could become. And now, the Border is your home. Welcome home, Matsumoto Jun.”
Home, Jun repeated in his mind. I am home. I am alive.
Jun inhaled again. The grip on his shoulder felt like security. The air tasted like freedom.
I am reborn.
The usually serene city was raging with so much vivacity that Jun didn’t really know what to do with himself. The Commencement was doubtlessly the most important day of the year in the Border; almost everything shut down, and everyone gathered in at Johnny’s mansion, spreading out even into the center of the city, and waited for Johnny to choose. It was the day when juniors were deemed capable and officially became dreamcatchers. It was the day that Jun had heard about from eager contenders ever since he arrived three months ago.
Which meant it would also be Jun’s first time witnessing the event.
At first, Jun couldn’t bring himself to look forward to it. Johnny would often visit to see how training was going, scouting out the best, and would proclaim his decision at the Commencement. Only a handful of talented juniors made the cut. Out of hundreds of juniors - some who have been there for years - only between ten or twenty were chosen each year. A few years ago, Johnny made the shocking choice of only selecting two. Within the past forty years or so, since the Commencement ceremony was set in place, the number of rookies chosen was less than five.
Yet his hands trembled as he pushed them through the arm holes of his white long-sleeved shirt (matching his white pants - it was the typical everyday attire in the Border. It wasn’t mandatory, but no one really bothered with fashion, save for people like Domoto Tsuyoshi-san, who seemed to wear at least five different colors every day). This was a part of him now, rooted deeply into who he was. One day, maybe, he would be chosen in the Commencement. Or maybe he would join the others who didn’t quite make the cut and work elsewhere in the city, such as in security or as a messenger. No matter where Jun ended up, he would be watching history be made as new dreamcatchers stepped forward. And everyone - from the disgruntled who weren’t chosen to the juniors and catchers to Johnny himself - knew that the Border thrived off of the dreamcatchers. Dreamcatchers were the past, present, and future.
An abrupt, sharp jab in the side nearly knocked Jun flat onto his face. “Sorry,” Toma mumbled from on top of him, clumsily climbing off the boy he crashed into and helping him back to his feet. Ikuta Toma was a year younger than Jun and a pain sometimes - usually in the literal sense - but they had become close friends since meeting. Toma entered the Border on the same day as Jun, and Jun had secretly been thankful for having Toma there to train with. The other juniors seemed nice enough, but with Commencement, everyone was putting competition before friendship, vying for attention.
“You ready?” Toma asked, combing his hair down with his fingers to straighten the locks out. He ended up making them even more mangled. “The streets are already packed with people. We won’t be able to see anything if we don’t leave now, and I don’t want to miss our first Commencement!”
Jun brushed the nonexistent dirt off his pants before slapping Toma’s hands aside lightly, fixing the mess for him. “I’m ready. But it makes me nervous just thinking about who might get picked, even though it’s not me I need to worry about. Who do you think? Takizawa-kun and Tsubasa-kun?”
“Absolutely. And even though they definitely won’t get picked, a lot of rookies are crowd favorites this year. Especially Yamapi. And even those guys who just joined a month ago, Kamenashi-kun and Akanishi-kun.”
Jun furrowed his eyebrows. “Do you think that’s how it works? Johnny just chooses his favorites, or the most popular ones?”
After glancing outside quickly, Toma motioned for Jun to follow him and hurried outside, towards Johnny’s house. “Well, his own favorites, maybe, but definitely not the most popular. Don’t you remember what we heard about the Commencement from two years ago, when Johnny picked these two obscure rookies? People are still questioning that one. I even heard that Nakai-san was so upset that he started chasing one of them around, and Taka-san had to throw a watermelon at him to stop him! Man, I wish I could’ve seen that!”
Of course - that infamous year when only two dreamcatchers were chosen… two rookies overlooked by everyone else, for that matter, practically became a subject of taboo. No one would dare outright doubt Johnny’s decisions, but whenever the two catchers were brought up in discussion, it always came around to questioning their abilities, even now after they’ve both proved they were worthy to be chosen. In the span of two years, Machida Shingo and Ohno Satoshi have become two of the best dreamcatchers in history. Machida-kun had yet to return with a stone that wasn’t of magnificent quality, and Jun has overheard his teachers multiple times saying they wished they knew Machida’s secret, that they could somehow get him to come and teach (they say all of this when they think no one is listening, of course).
And Ohno-kun… he was nothing less than a prodigy.
To be honest, out of all of the skilled dreamcatchers there were, it was Ohno that Jun admired. Most juniors aspired to be like the Border’s pride and joy, the five catchers who formed the special group SMAP, which included the biggest objector to Ohno’s position, Nakai. Others wanted to be like the charming Kimura or the flamboyant Shingo. Ohno-kun might not have been the greatest dreamcatcher, but he had an innate gift. Jun couldn’t believe that someone could catch dreams so naturally, especially when Jun felt as if he had no natural ability himself. He worked harder than anyone, but he would never be able to keep up with what Ohno can do when he’s not even trying.
Machida and Ohno were amazing, and it wasn’t fair that they were discriminated against so much. It didn’t even make sense; the Border was full of trustworthy, kind people. Everyone was friendly (even those preparing for Commencement - they just would keep a distance to avoid losing focus). Jun has never heard of any other prejudice like it in the Border.
His thoughts were silenced together with the hush of the crowd as the entire city seemed to hold its breath. Toma had managed to push them to the front while Jun was spacing out, and he had a clear view of everything. They were standing on the cobblestone circle in front of Johnny’s house, beside the round plot of flowers in the center. Before them, grandiose stairs rose up to the entrance of Johnny’s mansion, and along the edges of the stairs stood the Border’s heroes - the members of SMAP, but also the legendary Kondo Masahiko, who has been at the top for a long, long time.
Finally, there was sound, but there was too much - the crowd roared as the double doors creaked and opened completely, Johnny stepping out. Jun knew that all across the Border, this image before his eyes was being broadcasted to every TV and radio, projected on giant screens on every corner of the city. And he’d seen Johnny before countless times - their leader wasn’t some absent tyrant or anything; he actively came and communicated with the Border’s citizens, including Jun. The man was odd and hard to keep up with, but he was someone the city respected and admired, not idolized. Even SMAP and Kondo-san were people he saw often.
But there, he was surrounded by throngs of cheers as if the stairway was a stage and Johnny was the star. It was strange, unnatural, but thrilling beyond belief. Jun’s thankful he came to see Commencement in person, because there was no way a screen could capture the energy.
The sun was beginning to set behind the manor, and the rays of color that spread out only made the scene more dramatic. Johnny lifted his hands and the city fell into quiet once again, pausing for an instant. Then, he spoke.
“Hello, my friends. I welcome you to our beloved Border’s glorious celebration: the day of Commencement, when our young, hardworking juniors are given a glimpse of their future, of what they are aiming towards; or, for some, it is the grand beginning of their lives as dreamcatchers.”
In a normal conversation, Johnny would never have been so formal - he’d use nonsensical English and crack bad jokes, speaking on the same level as everyone else. He was rarely this eloquent. Jun expected clapping or cheering to resume, but the attention of the entire city was on Johnny. No one dared to interrupt.
“All of you are an important part in our Utopia. We see the humans and the shape their world is in, full of foolish ideas about raging wars for the sake of peace, and full of fruitless dreams and consuming emotions. But our Utopia is the world reality dreams of, wishing it could become. We have crossed over the border from despair into a community that is peaceful and content, separated from that darkness. And all of you have an important role to play in protecting this “Border” - after all, without the teachers, how would our community grow? Without security and researchers, how would we be safe? Without the shopkeepers and builders and everything else done by the good people of our city, how would we survive?
“The dreamcatchers, including those who will be initiated today, are not more important, no. But their job is a special one: to catch dreams, to mediate between worlds and keep the Border in balance. And so it is with pleasure that I announce the names of the seven new dreamcatchers.”
A murmur went around the crowd, but was hushed quickly. Jun frowned. So this year there would be a fewer number of dreamcatchers commencing. Last year eighteen juniors were picked. But from what Jun’s heard, the number is never predictable. People seemed to have expected more this year, so maybe it’s just from being a rookie, but Jun isn’t too surprised.
The names were listed off in succession, bursts of cheering in between. Jun smiled when his prediction proved right, and Takizawa-kun and Tsubasa-kun ran through the crowds to form a line on the steps beside Johnny. Oguri Shun was called next, another unsurprising choice. The next three Jun didn’t know personally, but he recognized them as Machida-kun’s good friends.
“And the last junior to commence is Matsumoto Jun.”
Personally, Jun’s happy with the choices. Even though a lot of the other juniors were talented, Jun could tell that the ones who were chosen are on a higher level somehow, and-
Toma clutched his shoulder and shook it hard. “Jun,” he breathed, voice shaky with a mix of laughter and disbelief. “Jun, it’s you!”
The words didn’t hit him until then, as if Johnny was somewhere far off and his echo was only then reaching Jun’s ears: Matsumoto Jun.
No one cheered for him.
Knees buckling, Jun slowly walked to the stairs, then climbed them one at a time. The entire city’s eyes were on him, and he told himself with each step, this is wrong. I’m not ready for this. Why me? When he reached his place, the city erupted in bedlam, but the rest of the night’s events became nothing more than a blur. He couldn’t think outside of the mayhem within his own mind.
“Out to go do some official dreamcatcher business?” Toma joked the next morning, running up to him with a grin as Jun walked down the road.
Jun shrugged weakly. “I’m meeting with Taka-san and Nakai-san. They’re supposed to assign me to someone who can help me get used to entering real dreams or something. I don’t really know what’s going on.”
“Well, it’s still incredible. Johnny made a good choice with you! You’re the hardest working person I know. You deserve it.”
Hard work doesn’t equal talent, Jun thought bitterly, but he held his tongue. They rounded a corner and nearly bumped into Kamenashi and Akanishi.
“Hey guys!” Toma smiled and waved, but the two juniors ignored Toma, glaring at Jun as they walked by wordlessly.
Jun’s stomach sank.
After a bit of searching, Jun finally found a secluded, unoccupied room in the administration building where he could escape. He fell to the floor and hugged his knees, feeling like a traitor and knowing that his name should never have been called.
But his self-pity only lasted for a second. A sigh sounded out, making Jun jump. “Hello?” he said hesitantly, not seeing anyone nearby.
A head popped up from behind an unused desk in the corner, revealing a mop of tousled hair. The hidden figure crawled out slowly, and Jun gasped at the familiar face. Jun gaped as the man tilted his head and blinked curiously, giving him a shy smile.
“Hello. Who are you?” Ohno asked, walking on his knees a little closer to Jun.
“Matsumoto Jun. We’ve met before, once… um, what were you doing in here?”
“They wanted me to do paperwork or something, so I hid,” Ohno replied as if it were obvious. “Matsujun, huh? Aren’t you one of the new dreamcatchers? The rookie?”
Jun sighed heavily. There was no use in denying it. Wait, Matsujun? “Uh, yeah, I am. I was told to come meet Nakai-san, but he was busy, so they asked me to wait.”
“Nakai-kun…” Ohno echoed. Jun froze, kicking himself mentally. Everyone knew that Nakai-san and Ohno-kun were at odds with each other. Bringing him up was the stupidest thing he could have done. But much to his surprise, Ohno leaned in and giggled, whispering in Jun’s ear, “When you talk to him, leave off -san and -kun. Just call him Nakai. It’s really funny.”
Jun must have been giving him a look of utter horror, because Ohno quickly said, “Oh, right, sorry. Our fights are pretty much all for show, although he does actually get mad at me a lot. It’s all Taka-san, really. He said something to Nakai about how no one would listen to him unless they feared him a little, so he fed me lines and started the fight thing, but now Nakai’s mad ‘cause he thinks now since I have the guts to stand up to him anyone can. So, yeah.”
“Right,” Jun said as he stood up, not really understanding at all. “Well, I guess I should go and see if he’s available now. I’m supposed to be assigned an instructor.”
Ohno looked up at him, alert. “An instructor for entering actual dreams for the first time.”
When Jun nodded, Ohno got to his feet. “I could be your instructor.”
Jun felt dizzy. The dreamcatcher he’s admired since the beginning was offering to train him? It was almost as mind-blowing as suddenly becoming a catcher. “B-but why would you do that for me?”
“How has everyone reacted to you becoming a dreamcatcher?”
Jun scowled. “I wouldn’t know. Almost everyone ignores me now and looks at me like it’s my fault I got chosen for this damn thing, so who knows what they really think?”
Jun stopped himself, startled at his own outburst. But Ohno didn’t seem taken aback; he just looked sad. “I don’t think I’d be able to teach you much about actual dreamcatching stuff. I just know that I would rather have had someone there to help me handle being rejected by the city I love more than anything.”
When Jun made the request to Nakai-san, he considered speaking impolitely just to get a reaction. Nakai pulled out a water gun from under his desk and soaked Jun with it, but Taka-san was laughing in the background and signing the approval papers, and Jun decided that walking home completely drenched was worth it.
Ohno was drawing again when Jun returned, flopping onto the couch with a moan. They had come to rely on each other over the past couple of years, and even though Ohno was no longer Jun’s instructor, he was his best friend. After spending all of their time at each other’s homes, they finally decided to just rent an apartment together. Jun didn’t want to before because he didn’t want to leave Toma, but Toma grew closer to Shun, and now they were living together as well.
“Tough job?” Ohno asked somewhat absently, erasing a line he had just drawn.
“This guy I’ve been catching for has been having the most exhausting dreams I’ve ever done,” Jun muttered. “I can’t even figure out why my energy gets drained so quickly. Maybe I should just go and ask to switch dreamers, because I’m scheduled for him again tomorrow night, and I’m sick of trying to keep up with him.”
Ohno glanced up from his sketchbook, tapping the pencil’s eraser against his lip thoughtfully. “Why don’t we trade?” he suggested. “I’ll take your dreamer for tomorrow and you take mine. That way, I’ll be able to see what it is that’s going wrong. You’ll have no trouble with my dreamer - she’s pretty young and her dreams are always easy.”
The proposition was perfect.
At least, the proposition was nearly perfect. But it wasn’t Ohno’s fault. There was no way Ohno could have known.
Humans are fickle creatures, completely unpredictable. Dreamcatchers were trained to be able to handle whatever the dream imposed upon them. They were mentally steeled and emotionally numb. It’s just that when you train yourself to handle anything and find yourself facing true terror for the first time, it’s easy to forget everything and let your guard down.
And it had seemed innocent enough. The girl was probably no more than eight or nine years old, hair braided in pigtails, wearing a yellow sundress. The palace she had dreamed up was extravagant, with a roller coaster instead of stairs or an elevator. It could have been anything - a traumatizing event, a shadow she believed to be a monster in her closet, a horror movie she watched before bed - anything at all that inspired her imagination to produce another character in the castle: a deranged killer who had found a knife somehow and had taken control of the roller coaster.
Jun could hear that sweet girl screaming in the background as the killer plunged the knife deep into Jun’s stomach, buried to the hilt. He couldn’t hear the sound of his body smacking against the floor, or the sound of the little girl’s cries, or even his own breathing - he could only feel the wound scorching him alive. All other senses seemed to have died off.
Dreamcatchers cannot die as the result of a dream. They can, however, feel pain and may experience stronger emotional connections than usual-
Oh, no. Jun wouldn’t die. He would just lie there, bleeding out endlessly, suffering through the pain until the little girl woke up somehow.
In order to protect oneself from the possible psychological strains of a dream, the dreamcatcher should cut off that emotional connection. Linking oneself is required to catch a dream, thus the dreamer takes on the emotional baggage of the dreamer. This is why juniors train for elongated periods of time, to discover how to detach themselves from the emotions while simultaneously holding on to the dream.
Jun squeezed his eyes shut, trying to control his gasping breaths. He repeated every detail, every single thing he learned about that he could remember. The words became a mantra. What did they mean again?
By achieving this, the dreamcatcher essentially becomes nothing more than a bystander. They have linked to the dream, so they may interact and collect the essence of the dream, but without emotional involvement. They are nothing more than a surveillance camera that records the images to a network without truly experiencing what they are seeing.
Since when was his blood so black, so thick? It covered the entire floor now, wall to wall. It had even begun crawling up surfaces. Soon, it would flood the entire room.
Nothing more than a bystander.
Wouldn’t that be nice, Jun thought, or maybe he said it like a dying breath. Then he could drown.
Nothing more than a bystander.
He wondered if the little girl managed to escape.
Nothing more than a bystander.
By the time the black blood rose high enough to cover him entirely, he thought maybe the pain would lesson. It didn’t. He was going to die there. Or was he dead already? No, you can’t die, the blood cackled. You just get to lie here and drown in your pain.
Nothing more than a-
Dream?
No, reality. No, not that; not quite. Space, time converted into nihilism and ate him up. The blood said so. It told him when it went into his ears as he was crying out in pain. It said no one will hear you if you scream. They’ll only hear the silence.
Fountain blood flowing into the network and eating up dreams. This isn’t a dream, it’s a corner of hell in his mind. Who was he again? Right, he is me. Who am I again?
Convergence of dream and real. Nothing is either, but both are everything what is that. Yes, he knows, just like I know, because we know. It’s on the record, camera-san. Put it on repeat in black and white and color, but don’t forget to turn off the lights. Because this is really not real reality but it’s real, oh is it real, even though it’s not.
Someone is singing watch out for haunted blood because they’re filthy liars trying to scream the silence into the network I can hear… you’re just a fucking bystander, you fucking liar.
Radiating existence into dreaming reality I can hear singing cut yourself off, cut yourself up, bleed a little where am I? Ashes to ashes, dust to dust what happened? How did I get here? He’s calling my name dreams to ashes, reality to dust, me to blood Matsujun. Matsumoto Jun. That’s who I am. If the he’s stop singing to me, I can hear it.
When Jun opened his eyes, the lights were dim, but the room was bright enough to make out Ohno’s tear-stricken face, lips quivering as they moved and created a song. Jun could feel the warmth of Ohno’s hand and knew their fingers were interlocked, and somewhere in his muddled mind he knew that he shouldn’t be able to feel this warmth. Ohno’s voice was beautiful; he’s singing the nightmares away.
It’s on the record, camera-san. It’s a silent scream.
The next time Jun awakened, it wasn't Ohno there beside him, but Toma. Toma was holding Jun’s hand, too, but Jun couldn’t really feel it.
“Toma?” he managed to rasp out. “What… what’s going on?”
Toma leaned over and hugged him loosely. “Oh Jun, you’re okay you’re okay you’re okay you’re-”
“Yes, I’m okay, now please, Toma, what happened?”
Toma grinned, relieved. “That’s the Jun I know! We were so worried about you. You went into a dream and didn’t come back. We managed to get you out, but you… you were babbling nonsense and wouldn’t respond to anything we said, and eventually you fell asleep, but then you wouldn’t wake up… you’re in the hospital wing. You’ve been here for an entire week now. We didn’t… we didn’t know if you would ever wake up.”
Jun closed his eyes again, trying to remember. Ohno. “Ohno was here,” Jun said slowly, pushing himself up despite Toma’s protests. When he was sitting upright, he said it again. “Ohno was here. I heard him; he was singing. Where is he?”
Toma ducked his head, biting his lip, and somehow Jun knew. “It wasn’t Ohno’s fault this happened,” Jun insisted. “Ohno only switched dreamers with me because I wanted to, and the girl never gave anyone problems before. It ended up being a nightmare and I lost control of my emotions, okay? That’s all, it was just-”
“You almost turned into a ghost, Jun.”
The words hit him so hard it hurt. When dreamcatchers lose control of their emotions, they are at risk of losing themselves to the dream entirely, becoming a part of it and never recovering. Wasn’t that exactly what Jun had just experienced?
Jun turned his head to Toma, but Toma was already heading out the door. Before he left, though, he stopped, gazing sorrowfully at Jun with a bitter smile. “I can’t say, I’m not… Please, Jun, just know that what happened to you isn’t the reason.”
Once the door was shut, Jun forced his aching body out of bed. They did something to Ohno. Jun had to find him.
And Jun searched.
When he arrived home, all of the things Ohno would consider essential - things like his sketchbook and the black bracelet Jun gave him on his birthday - were gone. He went to all of Ohno’s favorite places, but there was no trace of him. When he asked around, they would dodge the question, or just shake their heads as if telling Jun to drop it.
Like hell he would.
He searched for a week, then two, and by the third week of futilely looking around in the same way, he was sick of playing around.
He didn’t bother knocking on Toma’s door, didn’t care about his friend’s protests. He dragged him into a private room and crossed his arms over his chest, teeth clenched as he growled. “What did they do to Ohno?”
“I’m not supposed to tell you,” Toma sighed, probably realizing that he would end up doing it anyway. He covered his face with the palms of his hands and took a deep breath before finally admitting, “Ohno… broke a rule, and is being punished for it. They’ve pretty much suspended him and are forcing him to stay in the real world until they figure out what to do. I made sure to tell him you were safe, but he’s… he’s killing himself with guilt. He can hide it from Johnny and the higher-ups, but I can tell that he won’t make it at this rate. That’s why I’m telling you, Jun.”
Jun started pacing back and forth, swearing with every turn. “Switching schedules with someone isn’t smiled upon, no, but damnit, it’s not illegal. And I told you, Toma, he-”
“And I told you,” he whispered, “that isn’t the reason.”
Jun didn’t stop pacing until he looked back at Toma and saw his expression, one of pure sadness and dread that Jun had never seen on his friend before. Jun hadn’t seen it on anyone in the Border before.
Toma cleared his throat and spoke slowly, softly. “Ohno rescued you, Jun. He noticed you hadn’t returned and had a bad feeling about the entire thing, so he went to the dreamer to check up on you, since he knew you didn’t have much energy. By that time, the little girl’s parents had tried to wake her up, but couldn’t. They were sending her to the hospital when Ohno got there. And when something like that happens, it’s almost positively a ghost. You know what protocol is - we leave the dreamer and the dreamcatcher alone. You can’t enter a dream with a ghost already in it. It’s dangerous for two catchers to enter at a time, but insane when there’s a ghost. You wouldn’t be able to control anything. We are lawfully bound to wait. There have been times when the dreamer never woke up, but usually, the dreamer does wake up, which forces the ghost out, and by then, we’re prepared to catch the ghost.”
“The dreamer is usually fine,” Jun continued, closing his eyes with pained comprehension. “But there has never been an instance when the catcher fully recovered. A little, maybe, but never entirely. Ohno… Ohno entered the dream.”
Toma nodded, and this only made Jun angrier. “So what if he did? He saved me, didn’t he? He did the impossible and saved me from becoming a ghost. We should be thanking him. We should be praising him, not-”
“The girl didn’t make it, Jun.”
Something in Jun’s mind crashed. “…What?”
“The little girl. The dreamer, Jun. She never woke up. After Ohno came out with you, the stress on her mind… she’s dead, Jun. Ohno is being penalized for killing a dreamer.”
Jun found Ohno staring out into an expanse of ocean, sitting on the docks. The sea was deceivingly calm, the waves coming toward but never touching. No one could see them, but when night crept up to morning and the fishermen began coming in or heading out, Jun and Ohno pretended they couldn’t see them, either. Jun just held onto Ohno and let him cry for the loss of a human, a little girl who became a victim to a distant world.
Ohno saved me, Jun reminds himself as he holds Ohno tightly against him. The older man, once so strong-hearted and sure, Jun’s pillar of support, felt broken in his arms. And now, I will save Ohno.
---
A/N: Oh boy. Did anyone see that one coming?
Again, I'm so sorry this took so long! OTL I spent most of my time working on a contest entry /shameless pimping and once finals rolled around... 0_0 But as I said before, I love this series too much to let it die, so no matter how long it takes, I will finish it. I can't promise anything, but at least for awhile, I'm going to try to start posted a chapter a week again (or every other week, at least).
So, thoughts on this chapter? We saw some craziness here. But now we know what the "incident" we've been hearing about was, and we saw into the nature of these ghosts. We even know more about the Border now... but how much of what Johnny was saying was the truth? What happened in the time after the incident (that we'll find out in the next part)? Jun started going a little insane there, but was there a deeper, hidden meaning in some of the things he was saying?
The next chapter will go back to Ohno - last we saw, he was with Tsuyoshi at an unidentified woman's house, left off with Tsuyoshi claiming she was the "first to remember". Which means we'll see who she is, and what sort of things she'll reveal.
P.S. - I haven't forgotten about the drabbles I promised, honestly! I'll probably be working on those next.
P.P.S. - Writing crazy people is so much more fun than it should be *cackles mischievously*