...is Relative

                                        

                                              
A/N: Sorry about the delay, I crashed hard yesterday when I got home. Between work, the weather and a really messed up sleep cycle, I needed the sleep in a bad way. Thank you guys for your patience.
                              
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In the embrace of a nightmare….
                              
Chronos didn’t feel like a disembodied presence inside Ananke’s mind, nor a figment of her dreaming, but at the same time he knew that no man should have the ability to stand on the edge of her subconscious mind like this and bare witness. Although he was inside her mind, he saw this dreaming mind like a man views the horizon on the edge of a cliff; impossibly far away and dangerously close at the same time.
                              
All around him; the air, the breeze that couldn’t be against his skin, the earth beneath his bare feet, it all throbbed and pulsed in the same beat, a drum beat that was hard and powerful. Even as Chronos stood on the ledge, he heard the sounds of distant shouting and the horizon he was spying went from the bright promise of sunrise to a slightly more murky dawn. Although he couldn’t hear the words, he knew something was horribly wrong because the pulsing beat around him was reaching a frantic pace. Chronos felt the ground under his feet quake and shudder as thunder tore across the sky. Gone was the golden blush of a beautiful morning and now a storm was building and beginning to rage around him while the air screamed and the ground tore apart with a wail.
                              
Chronos threw himself back and away from the ledge over the thrashing sea, and instead of falling back into the grass like he expected, instead he stepped out of this part of her twisted dream and entered a different room entirely. It was a cold, sterile and white room with a strange chemical smell to the air. He could see Ananke lying in a bed, face waxen and pale looking and the room was filled with a mechanical heartbeat. As he stared at the wires stretching from all over her body to the machines around her, he felt a shudder hit him because it was eerily identical to the connections between his own corporeal body and the Heart of Time. And because this is the world of dreams, things that were impossible were more than welcome, so Chronos could see Ananke sitting and watching her own body lay in bed.
                              
The sleeping Ananke looked as immobile as Chronos knew his own body to be, but the awake ‘nake was holding her own hand and petting it softly. Around her, and seemingly oblivious of the awake ‘nake, were what Chronos guessed to be her parents. The man standing by the wall looked older than he should have, face slack with grief and clearly painted with guilt. The woman was just an older, softer version of Ananke herself. They shared the same features but where Chronos had already grown used to Ananke’s quiet competence (something he admitted with great difficulty), he could see the easy living and rich lifestyle hovering around Ananke’s mother like an affectionate kitten. It made him wonder what had driven the woman whose body he wore to the solitary lifestyle he had interrupted. Still he made no move to investigate further and the awake ‘nake remained as oblivious of him as her parents were to her presence.
                              
“You knew.” He heard the awake ‘nake say softly, looking away from her own body to stare at her parents. “You knew and did nothing and I was the one to pay for it. Get out.” But still they couldn’t hear her. “Get. Out.” She repeated, as effective as her first attempt was. “GET OUT!”  ‘nake stood and screamed, making even Chronos step back. It was the first emotional outburst he’d witnessed from the woman, and even though it was only a dream, he felt her anger burn hot. Whatever had happened, she was completely consumed by it and the room they were in reflected that as flames licked their way up the walls. Chronos could feel the heat of the flames make the hair on his arm curl, the skin tighten and the moisture evaporate from his mouth and it was all exquisitely painful because he was feeling it as if he wore his own flesh. Somehow, being inside Ananke’s dream, watching her misery allowed him to connect and feel whole himself. He knew then that she could be made weak while he grew stronger, and eventually he could take control of the body they reluctantly shared. But before he could feel too triumphant, the room around them started to crumble and tear itself to pieces even as it was eaten by flames.