Chapter Five
Chapter Summary: Breaking out of their own personal traps, the group comes together to try and figure out how to rescue Thomas and stop the Endless holding him captive. But they're missing one member of their group
Warning(s): Spoilers for season one of Dead Boy Detectives; spoilers for season one of The Sandman; AU; references to violence and character death; torture scenes and aftermath of torture; sexual content and references to noncon
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Before the person who held him captive could do anything else, there was a loud crack and they suddenly toppled to the side, revealing someone else standing behind them.
"Charles..." Edwin breathed out, relief flooding through him. He gave his hands and feet an experimental tug, groaning in frustration when the ties didn't budge. "A little help here? Please?"
Charles placed his pack on the floor and opened it, taking out a pocketknife. Flicking the blade open, he moved over to the bed and cut through the ties holding Edwin's right arm. "Is that a collar and a leash?" he asked.
As soon as his right hand was free, Edwin reached over and undid the tie around his left arm. He took a few moments to respond, as Charles began to work on the ties that held his legs in place. "I forgot we were in the Dreaming," he admitted, unable to hide the note of irritation at himself in his voice. "When I walked in here and I thought that was Thomas...." His voice trailed off and he shook his head.
"I know," Charles said softly. "I got sent to Crystal. What I thought was Crystal. Got suspicious when I could feel her touching and kissing me. Had that suspicion confirmed when she bit me hard enough to make me bleed." He paused and looked at Edwin. "I nearly decided to stay." An apologetic note slipped into his voice.
"Dreams are designed to make you want to stay in them, but they're not real. And they can never be a replacement for reality." Edwin's arms and legs were free now, and he reached up to remove the collar that was still attached to his neck. As his fingers brushed against the soft, supple material, an image rose in his mind: one of him kneeling at Thomas' feet, the real Thomas, with a collar around his neck and the leash grasped in the hand of the Cat King.
Whatever had been responsible for this, they had clearly reached deep inside and pulled out wants that they had to try and keep them in the Dreaming. Or in Charles' case, maybe they hadn't had to go that deep. Still, whoever had done this had used Charles' desire and need to feel against him.
Edwin reached out and placed a hand on Charles' shoulder, squeezing gently as a gesture of silent support. He then removed the collar and leash from around his neck and dropped both onto the bed. "Have you seen either Niko or Monty?" he asked.
Charles shook his head. "Soon as I decided not to stay, I immediately focused on you and wound up here. I haven't even tried to find any of the others," he admitted.
Edwin just nodded. It didn't surprise him that Charles had found him first. After all, they were best friends. And Charles had come to Hell to find him. But it at least boded well for them finding the others, even if getting to Thomas might not be as easy.
Charles turned to look at the mirror, then glanced at Edwin. "You think we should try our normal mode of travel?" He'd picked up his bat by now, and pointed it at the glass.
"Well. Monty did say that the Dreaming should bring us to where we want to go...or at least as close to it as we can get." Edwin reached out and grasped Charles' hand. "Don't let go. I'm going to focus on Niko first. If you can do the same, it should make it easier for us to reach the same place she is."
"Given our luck so far, I'm not so sure we'll reach her with no problems, even if both focus on her to the exclusion of all else." Charles gripped Edwin's hand tightly and muttered, "But I don't have any better ideas, so let's give it a try."
Edwin just nodded and moved towards the mirror. He didn't hesitate, stepping through the mirror. As soon as they entered it, he focused entirely on Niko...on finding her; on getting to where she was.
The next moment, they emerged from a surface of water, hair and clothes soaking wet.
"I hope nothing in my pack got wet," Charles muttered, running a hand through his soaking wet hair and shaking his head.
Edwin only partially paid attention to what his best friend was saying, instead focusing on their surroundings. Like the forest where they'd initially entered the Dreaming, everything was just a bit too bright; just a bit wrong. He was half-expecting something strange and out of place to suddenly appear; like maybe a housemaster wielding a cane like a weapon, or a housewife conducting a tea party as a picnic.
Instead, his eyes were drawn to Niko. Niko, who was walking hand in hand with a man with dark hair and skin. Edwin's eyes were drawn to the colourful rings placed on the man's fingers: a total of twelve.
And then, even as Edwin watched, the man made eye contact with him and smiled, lifting a hand in a wave. The next moment, he simply dissolved into a pile of rose petals.
Niko stopped dead in her tracks, staring at her empty hand and then at the spot where the man had been standing. "Dad?" she whispered.
Edwin moved forward and wrapped his arms around her, hugging her close. "Are you all right?" he whispered.
"My dad was here," she whispered back. "But he's gone now."
"I hate to say this, Niko, but that wasn't your dad," Charles said. "We've all been stuck in nightmares. Desires that turned bad. Corrupted."
"No...no." She shook her head. "I woke up in a coffin. I was buried alive. That was my dad," she insisted. "He saved me. And now he's gone." Her voice dropped even lower as her eyes filled with tears.
"Maybe it was him." Edwin didn't know if he truly believed that, but if it helped Niko to believe, he wouldn't try to convince her otherwise. He hugged her a little tighter and asked softly, "Are you hurt?"
"No. Not anymore," she admitted quietly. "I tried to claw my way out of the coffin, which made my fingers bleed, but they don't hurt anymore." She stepped back out of his embrace and looked between him and Charles. "Where's Monty?"
"We were all separated," Edwin said softly. "We came to find you first. Monty told me that the Dreaming will take you to what you're looking for, or at least as close as it can." He held out one hand to Niko and the other to Charles. "If we all concentrate on Monty, I hope we'll be able to reach him without any further trouble."
Niko gripped Edwin's hand tightly and gave him a slightly trembling smile. "I'm ready."
"Me too." Charles squeezed Edwin's hand before he asked, "So what do we do? Just pick a direction and walk in it and hope that the path we take will let us find Monty?"
"That's exactly what we need to do." Edwin hoped, with a desperation that surprised him, that it would work. He'd already failed to find and rescue Thomas. He needed to find Monty. He couldn't fail him as well.
Charles' eyes narrowed slightly with concern and he said, quietly, "We'll find him, Edwin."
"I know." Edwin forced himself to relax, even if it was difficult. So long as Thomas was still alive...they would find him. His best friend was at his side, and Niko was alive. Both of those things gave him hope that they'd find Thomas; that they'd be able to save him.
If he hadn't actually failed Niko, maybe he wouldn't fail Thomas.
Squeezing his friends' hands, Edwin picked a direction and began walking in it. As he did so, he focused on Monty. And he focused on how much he wanted and needed to get to the other man, because once they found Monty again...they'd be one step closer to getting to Thomas.
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By the time Desire returned to the cell, Monty had replaced the blindfold over Thomas' eyes, removing his sense of sight entirely. Even though he knew it was only temporary, that he'd be able to see again once the blindfold was removed, the removal of one of his senses was hard to handle.
"Your friends are trying to find you." There was a trace of something...amusement, perhaps?...in the Endless' voice as they spoke.
"Will they succeed?" Monty's voice carried very little inflection. If anything, he sounded bored.
Thomas focused on listening to the conversation, pushing away the pain that lingered at the edges of his senses. He'd experienced pain before. He'd experienced far worse pain than what he'd already gone through.
"They'll succeed." Desire was moving around the cell...their steps bringing them closer to Thomas, until they were standing right in front of him, almost close enough to touch. "But they'll succeed when I want them to. And I'm not ready for that yet."
Thomas held his breath as he felt a sharp nail scratch down his chest, circling round his nipple. Pain and the warm trickle of blood followed the path Desire's nail took...but it was more of a mild annoyance, rather than pain that would completely debilitate him.
"So they're just going to wander the Dreaming aimlessly?" Monty asked. "How do you know they won't give up and decide to leave?"
"They won't leave." Desire stepped away from Thomas, who felt some tension seep out of him. "Love is one of the strongest driving forces for humans there is. Even dead humans."
"Love." Thomas' laugh was pained. "I think you've misjudged Edwin's feelings for me. Is there attraction? Of course there is. But he doesn't love me. He's only here out of a sense of duty. I don't know why you're trying to draw him here, but if you're thinking to use me against him, it's not going to work."
"Oh, that's sweet." Desire's chuckle resonated through the cell. "Your lover boy is only a stepping stone towards my goal. Even if he chooses to give up, which he won't, I have other plans in place. Of course," they added, stepping close enough that Thomas could feel their body brushing against his, "If he does choose to give up on you and go home, you won't be of any use to me. I'll have no reason to let you live. Unless you're able to amuse me in some way, of course."
"What makes you think I care what you to do me?" Thomas whispered. "I've lived a long time. Maybe it's about time someone else took the reins. Took control of my subjects." He did his best to sound like he didn't care. If he showed any sign of weakness, Desire wouldn't hesitate to use it against him. If he acted as if he didn't care...perhaps it would offer a little more protection; if not for him, then for those who depended on him for their survival. His subjects. The cats.
They still lived, at least for the most part. If they'd been killed, Thomas would have been able to feel it. He would have been weakened if his subjects, those he was linked so strongly to, were killed.
But the only weakness he felt came from the wounds Desire had already inflicted on him.
"Everyone has a breaking point." Desire whispered the words into Thomas' ear. "I might not have found yours yet. That doesn't mean you don't have one." They stepped away from Thomas and addressed Monty. "I don't need to tell you not to leave this place. I'll let you know when you need to act."
There was no sound, nothing to indicate that Desire had left, but their presence was abruptly gone and Thomas couldn't help but slump slightly in his chains. He couldn't relax for long, though, as he needed to pull himself up straight in order to breathe.
A cool, thick liquid was rubbed over the scratch Desire had left on his chest, and Thomas couldn't help but jerk in response to the new sensation.
"Sorry," Monty muttered. "I don't know if you can get sick like humans can, but I don't want to risk it. I just want to clean that new scratch on your chest."
"It's all right." Thomas forced himself to hold still, even though the liquid made the scratch sting a bit more. "You shouldn't be helping them," he said.
Monty was silent for a few moments; for long enough that Thomas thought he might not respond at all. Finally, though, he said, "I'm dying. Desire's promised to help me live."
"I'm sorry." Thomas didn't exactly fear death. He'd seen it, many times, in the long years he'd been alive for. He wasn't the first Cat King; he wasn't going to be the last one. But knowing he would die eventually, someday, and not come back from it was vastly different to knowing you were going to die soon. Still.... "But you have to know that betraying them is wrong. Working with Desire is wrong. They've outright admitted that they're just using Edwin. If they don't care if he leaves the Dreaming or not, they won't care if he's completely destroyed or not. And I know you have feelings for him. I'm not asking or expecting you to care about what happens to me. But surely you care about what happens to him."
"Desire won't harm Edwin. They promised."
Thomas didn't point out that an Endless could lie just as easily as a human could. Monty was smart enough to know that, especially since a witch's familiar could live a long time, even centuries, sustained by her magic. Instead, he asked, "What about Edwin's friends? Charles and Crystal? Did Desire promise not to harm them."
"Crystal isn't here in the Dreaming," Monty said quietly. "It's Edwin, Charles and Niko."
"Niko?" Thomas couldn't hide the note of surprise in his voice. "Her spirit's been trapped here?"
"No. She's not dead yet. The soapstone bear Tragic Mick gave her must have sent her body into a coma, or something."
She's not dead yet. Those words hit Thomas hard and he asked, quietly, "Monty? What does Desire want you to do?"
There was silence, for several long moments, before Monty whispered, "She was supposed to die anyway."
"Monty." Thomas did his best to sound as serious as he ever had. "I understand you must be scared. You know you're going to die, and that's not an easy fate for anyone to accept. But if you kill Niko, if you take that step, it'll be something you can never come back from." Before he'd been captured by Desire, he never would have thought about saying something like this. Maybe once, he even would have enjoyed the chaos that Desire's actions were going to cause. He certainly would have turned the torture into something more sexual; something that could be pleasurable for him.
But something had changed in him. It wasn't unusual, of course. He'd lived for a long time, and had changed multiple times within those long centuries. He'd also seen death; not just Death of the Endless, but death brought to mortals and others alike. Every time he'd lost one of his own lives, every time he'd come that one step closer to full death, he wondered what it would be like.
Perhaps that was one of the main reasons why he was so fascinated by Edwin.
"I have to make that decision. It's either her, or me," Monty said quietly. "And I...." He hesitated.
"What?" Thomas strained his ears. He didn't hear anyone else in the cell...but he was still blindfolded, so he couldn't see for sure. He strained a little at the chains, pulling slightly at them, but he had no hope of actually breaking free. Even if he hadn't been tortured, his strength was ebbing. He needed to be out of the Dreaming and back with the cats. If he couldn't get out of this place soon, he'd fade away...perhaps into nothingness.
He needed the connection with the cats. And while that was stretched to the point of breaking, he was in more danger of dying than from anything Desire could possibly do to him.
"I don't feel anything." Monty's voice dropped to a whisper. "I remember what it was like. I remember loving Edwin. When I was human for the first time. But I don't feel that now. All I can feel...and I don't know if it's real emotion, or just survival instinct...is that I don't want to die."
The worry that sparked within Thomas was sudden and hot. Someone cursed to die was one thing. Someone unable to feel any emotions at all was something else entirely. He wasn't sure how he could help with that...what he could possibly say to persuade Monty not to help Desire. "Can you leave the Dreaming?" he asked finally.
"I don't know." Monty hesitated. "Maybe I can. I haven't tried. I initially came here through a portal opened by the Night Nurse, but I haven't tried to actually leave this place. Do you think I should try?" he asked quietly.
"I think you should try," Thomas confirmed. "You might be in a situation where you need to leave the Dreaming suddenly...and it's better to experiment and try to do so now, before you get to a point where you need to and find that you can't."
"I won't be able to take you with me." A slightly apologetic note slipped into Monty's voice. "The chains are enchanted. I can't break them. Or remove them from you."
"Desire would never have left you here alone with me if they thought it was possible you'd break me out, willingly or not." Thomas shrugged, wincing as the movement pulled on his injuries. "Try to leave. Then try to come back. Maybe it'll work for you." And if Monty couldn't get back to the Dreaming? Well, it would just mean that one of Desire's plans couldn't be followed through on.
Thomas didn't think that disrupting Desire's plans like that would affect the Endless too much, but perhaps it would buy Edwin and the others some time to figure out what they were going to do.
"Okay. Okay," Monty repeated. "I'll try and leave the Dreaming. Maybe I can ask for some help...get an idea that doesn't need to end with someone dying." He hesitated. "I might not feel anything, but that doesn't mean I want someone to die if it can be prevented."
"I believe you," Thomas said quietly.
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I believe you.
Those words echoed through Monty's mind as he breathed in deeply and closed his eyes. As Esther's familiar, he'd still needed to sleep...and waking himself up from his dreams had been a skill he'd developed early on in his servitude. While he might be technically awake in the Dreaming right now, he should still be able to use that skill he'd developed.
Monty began focusing on the world he'd left behind; on the room he'd been in, right before entering the portal into the Dreaming. He thought about what the office looked like, with Edwin sitting at the desk. He thought about how the wood had felt under him; first as a crow, and then as a human. He remembered how it had smelled in the office...everything he'd heard.
And he remembered the pain of being forced back into human form. The sensation of skin being torn and moulded...and somewhere, at the back of his mind, that belief that all of the pain and torment would be worth it.
As the thought filtered through his mind that he didn't think it was ultimately worth it, he sensed his surroundings change around him. There was a rush of air and a sensation of falling that both abruptly and suddenly faded.
"Monty?!" Crystal's voice sounded alarmed. Worried. "What are you doing back here? Where are Charles and Edwin? Are they safe?"
Slowly, Monty opened his eyes and looked around the office. The three people who'd been there when he left for the Dreaming were still there: Crystal, Juniper and the Night Nurse. When he looked at the Night Nurse, she had a strange expression on her face...studying him like a cat might study an animal it was about to pounce on.
"Monty."
His attention turned to Crystal, now standing in front of him. When she reached for his hands, he took a step back, dropping them to his sides so that she couldn't read him. "I found the Cat King." His voice sounded hollow, flat, emotionless. Even to his own ears. If Crystal touched him, she'd be able to sense what was wrong with him. She'd know he was dying. She'd know he couldn't feel anything. And she'd know that he was on the verge of betraying Edwin. Just like he had before, when Esther had turned him human the first time.
"How did you leave the Dreaming and come here?" Night Nurse asked.
Monty paused, focusing on the feel of his surroundings, and realised.... "I haven't left. Not really." He could feel himself in both places. If he focused enough, he could feel his body still standing in the cell, opposite the chained Cat King. He could see and speak to those in the human world...but he doubted he could affect the world when he wasn't completely in it.
There was an odd look on the Night Nurse's face as she eyed Monty, then turned to Crystal and Juniper. "Give us some privacy," she directed.
"What? We still need to make a plan!" Crystal protested.
"It's not going to take long," the Night Nurse said. "Just a few minutes, and then you can come back in."
Juniper stood without a word and walked to the door, pulling it open and slipping out of the office.
Crystal looked like she wanted to argue, even opening her mouth to do so. After a second or two, she sighed and shook her head. "Fine. But you only get a few minutes." She followed Juniper out of the office and pulled the door closed behind her.
Monty turned to the Night Nurse and waited to see what she wanted from him.
"I told Edwin that I'd find out a way to help you," she said. "He noticed that you were affected by the spell that turned you human. That something's wrong."
"I'm dying." He said the words with almost brutal honesty, hoping that he'd shock her into silence; hoping that she wouldn't ask him any other questions.
"The spell. It was too much for you to go through a second time." She nodded. "That's as much as I suspected. I didn't tell Edwin what my suspicions were, of course. He was worried enough about the Cat King, and knowing there'd be no way to save your life would just make things worse for him."
It wasn't a surprise to know that the Night Nurse didn't have a way to save him. Perhaps if she'd found a way, he wouldn't have to help Desire. But he wanted to live. And Desire was the only one who could offer him that chance. Still.... "Even with all your knowledge, all your experience, all the many years you've existed for...you can't do anything?" he whispered.
"I take care of the dead. I have nothing to do with the living," she said. Cocking her head to one side, she took a step closer and reached out, placing one hand against the side of his head, and closed her eyes.
"Don't." He recoiled sharply.
Her hand dropped and she opened her eyes. There was an emotion on her face; something impossible for him to read. "You don't have your emotions," she whispered.
"How can you tell?" Desire had realised as well, but they were one of the Endless. He didn't know what kind of powers the Night Nurse had to allow her to see the same thing the Endless had.
"It's an empty place inside of you," she said. "Where something should be, but it isn't. If you know what you're looking for, it's obvious." She turned to the bookcase and quickly began scanning the shelves. "I might not be able to save your life, but I can bring your emotions back."
He stared at her, watching her rifle through the books, before he drew himself up to his full height. His lips parted, and one word escaped them.
"No."