??? POV
It hurts.
Even though they lacked a corporeal form without nerves or a brain to communicate with each other, it felt like every fiber of their being was in a constant state of agony that refused to subside.
They can't say or do anything, because they weren't alive, nor are they dead. It was like they were in a constant nightmare that never ever ended.
Their thoughts were muddled, their awareness blurry, and the only companion in this vague existence was the pain she had to suffer through.
The only moments when they were able to assume an identity of self, was during their dreams; however, even there, the pain followed them.
The pain never went away, even when the dreams gave them a brief moment of respite.
These dreams were as vivid as they were constant, as they could feel the Mediterranean sea breeze hit their face, and could feel the warmth of the sun as it caressed their perfect skin.
Unfortunately, these moments of bliss wilted far too quickly before the pain returned with a vengeance.
They felt the pain of seeing their beloved little sister become the monstrous Gorgon, eyeing them with the hungry eyes of a predator.
They screamed as their sister brutalized their body, gagged when said body was forced down the monstrous Gorgon's throat, and felt a burning liquid flood into every orifice of their body as they drowned inside her sister's stomach.
It happened over, and over, and over again. A repeating loop of bliss, heartbreak and pain.
Yet, the agony they suffered when they returned to the void made the horror of being devoured feel more like discomfort in comparison; However, that all changed one day when their cage of eternal suffering played a different set of dreams.
✦✧✦
Ritsuka? POV
"They" had become a "He" now and he was inside a modern suburban living room.
He was now Ritsuka Fujimaru, and he was sitting down in a comfortable couch seat. It was Saturday morning, and he had planned to take the whole day to play the modern contraption in his hands that was called a "gameboy."
He was playing a game called "Pokemon Crystal," and he had arrived in Ecruteak City and was exploring the simple pixelated city for the first time.
… strange, the pain hasn't arrived yet.
Usually by this time, fate would have ripped him away from the bliss and thrown him to the wolves, but here, nothing happened.
He knew it was a dream, and dreams being what they are, he was fully aware it would eventually come to an end, and the pain would return.
But for now, he clung to this child's innocent dream for dear life.
Eventually, the pain did return, but it did not last long. The brief discomfort went away and the bliss returned once again.
He lived his life through dreams, some of them showed him as a child, others as an adult. Ritsuka was a scholar, a boy that held a gift for knowledge that put him over his fellow peers.
He was also kind, as he always sought to help others out of the kindness of his heart, even if they inconvenienced his life.
Some of the best dreams he had of him were those where he spent time with his family.
His parents were strict, but they still loved him in their own way, enough that his life wasn't left wanting. He had no siblings, but he was okay with that because he had an adorable little munchkin, his baby cousin Gudako, instead.
She was a frequent visitor in his household, so much so that he had grown up to view her as a little sister of sorts. His aunty Sayaka often entrusted him to babysit her when she came over for business in America, and as a result, they had grown close.
Gudako was mischievous, but she was a good kid who loved to spend all day talking to him about anime, manga and games, and especially pokemon.
As for his aunt Sayaka, while he also had a close relationship with her, her actions could be a bit… concerning at times.
---
His aunty Sayaka walked to the couch where he and Gudako were spending time playing pokemon together.
"Ritsuka-kun, where does your father keep the boxcutter blades?" His aunt Sayaka asked.
"Oh, he keeps them in his toolbox, hold on, I'll get them for you."
The dream switched to a view of a neatly organized garage. He was looking through a red metal tool box where his dad kept his sharp carpentry tools.
He pushed the metal blade out to inspect its condition, and after confirming it was still sharp, he put away the blade and handed the plastic tool to his aunt with the blade side pointed away from her.
His aunt takes it with glee, "Thanks!! You're a lifesaver, my cute little nephew!!"
"No problem, and if you don't mind me asking… what do you need it for?"
He came to regret asking that question when his aunt's smile turned into the same mischievous smile that his baby cousin gave him whenever she was planning some prank to pull on him.
"Oh, nothing. I was going to give Derek a present." Aunty Sayaka said, uncaring for the growing discomfort visible in his face.
He furrowed his brows, "Your ex-boyfriend? I thought you hated him? Why are you going out of your way to give him a present?"
His aunt had not been silent about the breakup, quite the opposite really. She vented and ranted to him and his family that she had caught Derek cheating on her with another woman. A woman who suspiciously looked like a much younger version of his aunt.
"Oh, I do, but remember Ritsuka, even people you hate deserve to receive fair treatment. And Derek is going to get the present he deserves~."
It wasn't until later that he found out that the gift Aunty Sayaka had given Derek, was a mechanic bill to replace three flat tires.
---
His aunt's illegal behaviour aside, he still loved his aunt very much. He loved all his family, and that went doubly so for the woman who had won his heart.
Xochitl Garcia, his ex-girlfriend.
It was nice to relive the moments they spent fumbling over each other like lovesick birds. Despite his misgivings about how unladylike it was for a woman to confess to the man of her affections first, rather than have him come crawling and begging for attention, he would not fault her for it since Ritsuka Fujimaru is a dense idiot.
Oh woe is he, that his only options to pass the time were to either feel the mind numbing agony of the void or watch a young couple spend hours of their young lives on romantic dates while kissing and holding hands.
Alas, he had no other choice but to keep watching their love blossom, and blossom it did, because the two of them eventually started to participate in love making.
Sweaty, lewd, and passionate love making.
Yet, the flower refused to wilt as their intimacy deepened, and instead bore a fruit of passion that was, admittedly, a bit too much for him at times.
---
"Ah shit, I dropped my phone." Xochi cursed as she looked at where her phone fell.
He went to grab it, but she told him she could get it.
She smiled mischievously and walked over where her phone fell. Then in a slow, deliberate movement, she picked up her phone by bending over while keeping her legs straight.
He was watching the whole thing unfold and saw as his girlfriend's miniskirt rode up her but and exposed her bare ass to him.
He was flustered by this bit and he couldn't look away. Then he remembered who the ass belonged to and hissed out words of caution at his girlfriend.
"Ah!! X-Xochi, we're in public!! You forgot your panties!!"
"Hm? I did? Oh wow I did, sorry, I was a bit in a rush and I forgot."
"We should go back then, I-"
"It's fine Guda, look I got my phone, see? Now come on, we'll be late to our movie if we don't hurry up!! Ah, but before that, I want to ask you something."
She held onto one of his arms and leaned in close to his ear. He could feel her warm breath touch his sensitive ears as she asked him a question that caught him off guard, "Did you like the view?"
He was speechless, what does he even say in this situation?
No? He would basically be calling her body ugly. If he said yes, she might think he's a creep… what is he saying? He's being an idiot.
"...yes. I did." he confessed which earned a smug grin from her.
---
She did that on purpose, that pervert definitely did that on purpose, and it was not a one time thing. Xochitl continued to discreetly expose herself to Ritsuka in public, although it was a gradual shift that kept on escalating as more time passed.
It started out as sudden gusts of wind blowing on his girlfriend's skirt at just the right angle for him to see her exposed bottom, then caressing his groin in a crowded public bus, and there were even times she outright pinned him to an alley wall and sucked him off, with only a trash can hiding them from a passing police car patrolling the area.
Due to the nature of these kinds of dreams, he could feel the panic and hot blooded desire rush through his veins that came as a result of every risky move they pulled off.
Then came the trip to Japan.
Xochitl's family had given her permission to accompany Ritsuka on a trip to visit his family in Japan during the summer. This was because of the fact that his in depth tutoring had been what helped her avoid summer school that year. She always wanted to visit Japan, and now she had a chance to do so, which meant this trip was just as much of a reward for her as it was for him.
Before he had known about magic being real, he had believed that the only reason why Xochitl had gotten away with giving him a blowjob inside the plane was because they went to Japan in first class luxury suites that were essentially a tiny apartment cut off from the rest of the plane, away from prying eyes.
But now that he knew what magecraft looked and felt like, he could now sense the moment Xochitl activated a miniaturized bounded field in their suite. This is what she did every time she wanted complete privacy whenever they did their riskier stunts.
Even when the stewardess was right there, asking if they wanted any drinks, she never batted an eye to the feminine shaped lump under his blanket slurping his… admittedly barbaric sized manhood.
It was then, he realized, that her magic could have easily allowed her to do the same in economic seating. A feeling that was proven right when the dream showed them of the time he consensually did chikan on his ex at her behest, in a packed Japanese bullet train.
It was one of her wet dreams she wished to replicate, and thanks to him, she managed to safely experience it.
Neither his extended family, nor Xochitl's family had any idea what kind of depravity they got up to, and hopefully they never would.
He would rather take these intimate moments with him to the grave, but he knew that if anything, Xochitl was the type of person who would blab about this kind of wild stuff to her future grandchildren as a prank.
He doesn't get it. How could Ritsuka Fujimaru continue to stay with her even with her ridiculous requests?!! The answer was because he started to enjoy it.
Ugh… and now they were corrupting him with these feelings too.
✦✧✦
Ah, their connection with Ritsuka was fraying.
No… nonononoNO!!
They can't go back to the pain!! Not again!! They refused to go back to the nightmares of their body being devoured!!
They mustered every possible fiber of their lingering existence to maintain a strand of their connection intact. To her relief, they had succeeded.
Even so, their connection had weakened, and they feared that they would not be able to live his dreams like before. Thankfully, this was not the case, as the dreams became even more vivid, and lucid. To the point where she could now split herself off from his point of view and watch him as if she was actually with him.
And so, they could rest easy knowing that they had prevented the worst from happening. They did not know who to thank, but it didn't matter. They were still one with Ritsuka Fujimaru, and they were never letting go.
✦✧✦
StH3n0 POV
Since that day, her awareness of self had slowly mended over time, but sadly, she still could not step out of the dream cycle without feeling the crippling pain.
Not that she wanted to anyways, as she had her own pocket of safety.
After living his life through his dreams, she had gotten to know Ritsuka Fujimaru on a level even his depraved ex-girlfriend could only dream of.
She watched every show he had ever watched, read every book he had ever read, played every game, ate everything he ate, and felt everything he had ever felt, both positive and negative.
She had grown to love him, but dreams were only dreams. The real Ritsuka was somewhere else. She wanted to see him, to meet him in real life and to be with him.
But she was stuck, and she could not properly form thoughts on how to achieve her goals without her consciousness turning into fog again.
That was until, one day, the impossible happened.
A surge of magical energy came rushing through her soul bond with Ritsuka, and for the briefest of moments, she felt aware, truly aware.
It was then she heard his actual voice for the first time.
She heard him calling for her, HER, to come to his side. He knew she was trapped, which meant he wanted to set her free!!
She obeyed without hesitation and desperately grabbed their link and yanked herself to his side, but the cold hand of reality backhanded her as her existence proved too weak to escape her confinement.
How dare this prison of pain and suffering keep her from him!!
She hated it.
Hate.Hate.Hate.Hate.
… but it was only a matter of time, sooner or later, she would get a chance to be free, and she would get a chance to embrace the hero who had saved her from the pain.
Ah, her awareness was starting to fade again…
She couldn't fight the drowsiness and allowed it to take her over and she dreamt of Ritsuka once again.
She blinked as she saw a dream of her beloved hero inspecting a broken camera that he had dropped on the floor of a zoo.
While in the background, a smug looking gorilla was looking down at him from his glass enclosure.
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AN: Hope you guys enjoyed this interlude, I was planning on having this be part of the earlier Stheno interlude, but I ran out of time. I didn't want to push this further so I posted it now.
I am locked in on working on the next chapter, which I hope I will finish writing by Sunday. Worst case scenario, I will push the release date for Monday so I can give a proper finale to Septem.
Edit: Next chapter will be released later next week. I want to make sure I can wrap up the arc properly.
Anyways, thanks again to Flowerman for his help while I was brainstorming some ideas for this arc.
See you later.