sheep_game | Counting Stars

[ a laugh. it feels good? WEIRD but good. ]

This must be what Cepheus feels like all the time.

[ this MUST be. no wonder he's so Like That

the palace doesn't seem to be getting any closer, though ]

All fish and no brain coral ...

[ he swims?? closer? No, that's not working. He squints at that far off palace. ]

[ rude????

it's sure not getting closer :) maybe he's just not swimming hard enough ]

[ HE DOESN'T KNOW HOW TO SWIM HE CAN'T TELL IF HE'S SWIMMING HARD ENOUGH??

but he does try harder, and doesn't get any further, so he stops. ]

What the hell is this?

[ ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

is the water getting colder? the turtles that swim past him now seem more alarmed than happy ]

[ is he doing that?? it's weird to feel cold ... he winds up shivering and looking back. ]

[ the coral reef is gone

and it's starting to get dark ]

[ yeah okay he doesn't like that at all

he tries swimming in - any directoin? ... can he even see where he's going? ]

[ he can, a little! the water's turning inky, star-strewn. but that's not the only source of darkness

maybe he should look up? ]

[ oh. oh he doesn't like this at ALL.

fearful of what he's going to see, Kevin looks up. ]

[ that is an extremely very big hand descending towards him ]

[ SHIT

he struggles to swim down and out of the way, but he doesn't know how to use ocean powers even if he did have them ]

[ that's okay.

(YOU ARE BORN OF THE SALT AND THE DEPTHS AND THE WAVES)

he understands very clearly in this moment that, even if he did, there would be no escape.

(YOU LONG FOR IT EVEN AS YOU DENY ME)

the hand continues towards him, as if to crush him onto the seabed.

(THIS IS YOUR BIRTHRIGHT) ]

[ he's pushed down against the silt and the rocks, straining against the horrible pressure threatening to push out everything that's supposed to be inside of him. (at least when Meris had overcharged him he'd been empty - nothing to be pushed aside - this is different.)

Is he in someone else's dream? Lethe had said something like that could happen. If this is Cepheus's ...

He lets out a cry that comes out as bubbles underwater and tries to force the sea bed up with his actual chthonic abilities. ]

[ he

succeeds! the seabed rocks in response to his powers, pushing back against the goddess ]

[ that worked

that worked?? he stares up at the hand for a moment, mouth open.

-- okay he can't stay here. he winds up trying to pull himself along the rocks, trying to get deeper underground. ]

[ and he does! he tunnels deeper and deeper underground until he breaks through to

a place with dark red air that scalds the lungs. rivers of fire. a forest that kevin drops into now, falling, falling till he hits the ground ]

[ no

nonono he didn't mean this - not this -

the clarity of the dream just intensifies as Kevin adds his own memories to Cepheus's, making it worse for both of them. That flaming river in the distance - he knows how it tastes. He knows why the darkness seems to shift and move, and what the forest leads to ...

he hits the ground with a thud and just. doesn't move for a minute. of course he's here. he's always been here. every nice thing he's had since tartarus is just a dream that he's waking up from now. ]

[ he's right, of course.

everything, everything has ever been the dream of the dark god. anything that's been allowed has been at his whim. no one has ever escaped tartarus. not really. and the trees rustle as the monsters descend.

—isn't death better than enduring this place?

—vengeance. a curse from the slain.

—you have spread so much death and suffering. let us repay you. ]

[ of course he's still here. Lily has been the nicest dream he's had so far, but he always wakes up.

alway -

Kevin snaps his head up at the voices. ]

What in Hades...?

[ they look like the furies, don't they? but there are so, so many of them. and still they speak, in overlapping tones.

—the titan is already cursed. you have already destroyed his memory.

—you see his face? the boy cannot even convince himself. did he visit you, after he stole your memory?

—you have chosen...an excellent painful death ]

That second one - is that about him? But if it's about him, then why are they talking about him like that?

And he didn't do that to Bob, that was ...

Kevin struggles to his feet as the figures swarm. ]

Cepheus? Cepheus!

[ Is this a dream? Is it Cepheus's dream--? ]

[ a reverberation, when he says the name. even the arai seem to freeze for half a second. happens again, the second time.

(or is that just the heartbeat of tartarus himself?) ]

[ it could be. it could just be that horrible heartbeat squeezing the life out of him. gods, it feels real. for a moment, he doubts.

-- no, keep it together. he's still soaked from his ocean adventures, even if it is quickly steaming away in the heat of this place. ]

Cepheus, this isn't real. I don't remember this part.

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