-Micheals PoV-
Micheal yawned walking into the kitchen he shared with Jeanne as he scratched an itch under his shirt. He had slept like shit for number of reasons but the main was having another dream about his servants past on top of his dreamwalk earlier that night. He set about making breakfast deciding to make something simple as he rooted around in the fridge to find some eggs. He got the eggs and some bacon out of the fridge while he pulled frozen hash browns out of the freezer. Yawning more he got a skillet on the stove along with a pad of butter. As he made breakfast he glanced at the clock,
"I slept in until after 9 myself but usually Jeanne is up before I am…" He muttered to himself as he felt worried remembering the dream he had had. He frowned and shook his head trying to get the sounds of iron chains clanking together along with Jeanne screaming "no" over and over again only for the men around her to laugh uncaringly. He grit his teeth and shook his head more violently, slamming the heel of his palm into his forehead as if he could physically eject the dream from his mind. As he did this he felt the faintest feeling of fear from Jeannes end of their bond which made him pause. He frowned as he stood there for a few seconds before he firmed his lips and took action.
He flicked off the stove, put everything back, and started going room to room trying to find her eventually opening the door into her room. He didn't notice much of the room itself as he instead instantly focused on Jeanne who was sweating and muttering in her sleep as her face contorted itself into a fearful grimace. He walked up to her bed and reached out to touch her hesitating as his fingers rested above her shoulder. He shook his head and gently shook her shoulder only for nothing to happen. He watched feeling helpless as the muttering grew more intense and he could make out some faint words,
"No….no more…..please…..I'm begging…...stop...."
Not caring anymore about what she'd do to him, he tried to figure out a way for her to escape her dream and remembered something his mom said she used to do for him before his coma with….
"Chocolate. I need to find some chocolate." Micheal muttered under his breath as he ran out of the room and back into the kitchen. He went into the pantry and quickly found some of the chocolate he had been planning to use for a surprise for Jeanne. He ran back to her room right as he felt mana pulse off of her as she flipped over in her sleep to face the wall. Micheal set the chocolate on the dresser in the room, quickly made peace with his fate, and gently laid down behind his servant. He wrapped an arm around her stomach to hold her close as he touched his chin to the top of her head while he closed his eyes and started the spell.
He opened his eyes to see that he was floating through a blackened void. He looked around and noticed several swirling portals of various colors floating past him as he slowed down. He gently floated towards them in turn before eventually finding himself in front of a red portal that was practically boiling with activity. He firmed his lips, stuck his arm into the portal, and let himself get pulled into it entirely, only to be blinded by light as he slipped into her dream. He gingerly opened his eyes to see that he was standing in a stone hallway lit by torches. He frowned about to walk down the hallway when he faintly heard sobbing and he broke into a sprint. He found himself standing in front of an iron door and hesitated,
What if she doesn't want me to see? What if she doesn't want me to help her?
He shook his head,
Whatever I see. I need to not startle he-
A scream echoed behind the door and Micheal's mana surged as he reinforced his body, lifted his leg, and kicked in the door ripping it out of its frame to slam into the opposite wall. Several nude men with blurred faces shot upright to look at him as he fired his circuits at full blast shooting forward so his knee collided with one man turning his head into pulp. He flew past, pivoted in the air, and had just started channeling his mana into lightning when he saw Jeanne crumbled on the floor not moving, covered in bruises and cuts. He ground his teeth together and activated his eyes while he felt his attribute force his spells to change in response to his rage. He landed in front of the wall the door hand crashed into and glared at the men as they all got into fighting stances
"I am going to make each of you suffer a thousand times for what you did to her."
He roared, his voice echoing on around the room as he pushed off, and yanked his arm forward ripping out part of the wall behind him and shattering it against two men who flew back. Before they had even landed Micheal had made a sign with his hand causing the remains of the wall to stop in midair and turn into several spikes that he began to rotate at high speeds until they whirred in the air. He undid the sign and slammed his fist forward causing the spikes to impale both men ripping them to shreds. The others faltered and their resolve began to waver as Micheal looked at them and extended his other hand causing nearby chains to wrap around each of them in turn. He was tempted to rip them apart slowly but he heard Jeanne groan and just ripped them apart quickly to get it over with.
He needed to get to her.
He looked around at the carnage unfeeling and uncaring then ran over to Jeannes side to kneel down. She was barely conscious and Micheal felt rage burn in his gut when he turned her over to look at her bruised and beaten face.
He took a slow breath to calm himself down he closed his eyes and focused on Jeannes mana, trying to find the specific thread of her consciousness that led to this dream just like his mom had told him how. After a few seconds he found it and isolated it as he pulled up one of his memories at random. He glanced at it and saw it was his 14th birthday which he remembered was a good one. He focused on the task at hand.
What he had to do was sever the thread for Jeannes current dream and then reattach it to his memory to transfer her consciousness into his memory. All within fraction of a second. He took a deep breath and made the cut. Immediately the entire room began to twist apart at the seams and Jeanne snapped awake with a gasp while at the same time Micheal connected her now free conscious thread to his memory. Immediately the room fuzzed and distorted into static that slowly cleared away as Micheal and Jeanne found themselves in the Lafaire mansion. He quickly summoned a blanket that fell over Jeanne as he averted his eyes while hearing her rapid breathing slow down.
Eventually after several minutes he felt a tug on his sleeve and he looked down to see Jeanne had wrapped the blanket around herself and was looking up at him with tears in her eyes as she tried to speak,
"….thanks."
He eventually heard her hoarsely say. He nodded, offering her a reassuring smile, as she wrapped the blanket around herself more tightly and gingerly tried to sit up using her arm only for it to give out on her. Micheal quickly caught her,
"Imagine yourself being healthy. Focus on the mental image of your health and imagine yourself being healthy. Use as much mana as you need to."
He said as she nodded and closed her eyes. Micheal averted his gaze as the blanket shfted around her and he felt his mana being siphoned into the dream so that Jeanne could heal herself. He heard shuffling and then she told him he could look. He gingerly turned his head and thankfully saw that she had wrapped the blanket around herself again and was sitting upright. They sat there for a few minutes before Jeanne finally spoke,
"What….did you do?" Jeanne asked him in awe as she looked around the room taking in everything,
"A trick my mom used to do for me when I had nightmares as a kid. This was before I fell into that coma based on what she told me." Micheal explained, "You...enter the dream of the sleeping person and redirect what they are seeing in their dream into something...else. Usually a memory of the person entering."
He mentally thought back to the scene he had walked in on and had to take a deep breath to calm himself down as he felt his mana start to boil. Eventually he looked over at Jeanne who was giving him a calculating look.
"Full honesty: I didn't try to look at you while you were….like that. I turned you over enough to see your face to make sure you were breathing and….seeing what they did to your face was enough to make my blood boil. I didn't even try to see anything else." Micheal said quietly as Jeanne stared at him and then nodded, accepting his answer while silently pulling the blanket tighter around herself. Another minute passed and then,
"So...if I imagine clothes to wear?"
"They should pop out of thin air yes."
Jeanne hummed a bit and glanced at Micheal, "...Turn around. ...Please."
Micheal pivoted on his knees and faced the door to the room as he felt his mana being siphoned again followed by the sounds of fabric on skin. He waited for a bit and was just wondering what was taking so long when he felt Jeanne hug him from behind as she snaked her arms under his to wrap around his chest. As she pressed into him he noticed she was shaking violently and he gently placed his hand over hers giving it a gentle squeeze. Eventually the shaking stopped and she tightened her arms around him as if to hold him there. He eventually heard her say,
"Don't turn around. I'll really be mad if you do."
He blinked at how hard her voice was shaking. Not trusting himself to speak he nodded, said he wouldn't, and then sat there on his knees as he felt Jeanne's arms angle upward a bit and then felt softness press onto the base of his neck between his shoulder blades just above his shirts collar. His eyes widened as he barely had time to register what had just happened before he felt Jeanne bury her face into his back as she shook harder,
"tha-...Thank you…." He heard softly as Jeannes breath hitched. He gently placed his hand over hers and gave it a gentle but firm squeeze as the shaking went on. Eventually it stopped and she moved to take her arms off from around him only for him to gently take her hand in his kissing each of the knuckles on her hand in turn. He then let her hand go and they sat in the empty room for a minute,
"You're welcome." Micheal finally said into the lingering quiet.
-Jeannes PoV-
Jeanne tried to ignore her racing heart as well as what she had just done.
Oh my god. What did I just do-
Pathetic. Shaking like a damn shaved lamb in winter.
It was the only thing I could think of to thank him! It took all I had and-
Yes, "all you had" implying you had anything to give in the first place. He won't love you. Give up.
Jeanne ground her teeth together as the Other vanished again into her mind. She took a deep breath and shook her head a bit.
"You can turn around Micheal." She said hating the fact that she was still too shaken to speak confidently. Micheal didn't hear her so she spoke up a little to repeat what she had said and when he looked at her she averted her gaze. She had summoned one of her casual outfits which was a purple wide collared long sleeve shirt that fell off one shoulder and black jeans. Micheal stood up, dusting off his legs, and held out his hand to her to help her up. She reached out hesitatingly but took her hand back.
"Thanks but I can get up on my own…." She got her legs under her and stood up thankful that she wasn't shaking anymore. She watched as Micheal retracted his hand then she saw his face and felt bad at the look she saw there. Jeanne opened her mouth to say something only for Micheal to smile, shake his head, and then put his hand in his pocket letting out a sigh,
"I've...been meaning to ask but…" Micheal started hesitantly as he seemed to be searching for the words to say, "Are...your nightmares...always like that?"
Jeanne tried to shrink into her shoulders at the shame she felt running through her. The fact her Master felt as though he had to ask. She looked away and shook her head
"Not...always. No. Most of them...are of me burning….but lately I've been having more dreams like the one you….got me out of."
Jeanne bit her lip as she tried not to say that she'd been having dreams just like that one ever since she realized she loved him. She closed her eyes expecting Micheal to chastise her for being so weak when she heard him say something she didn't hear. She opened her eyes and looked at him as he rubbed the back of his neck with a hand,
"How...bad was it on the outside?" She asked dreading the answer,
"I...felt fear through our bond while making breakfast. So I stopped everything and went door to door to find you...I tried to shake your shoulder to wake you up but you didn't and then….you started begging for whatever was happening to stop."
"...oh." Jeanne knew she should thank him for saving her again but it felt like she was trying to talk around a ball in her throat. Instead she asked, "Is...that why you asked me if they're like that normally?"
Jeanne watched as Micheal nodded silently. They stood there for a bit as she looked around the room again. It was the exact room she had taken back at the Lafaire mansion. She briefly wondered if Micheal brought them here on purpose and was about to ask him to change the subject when they heard people singing happy birthday from somewhere in the house. Micheal sighed and smiled at her moving towards the door,
"If you wanna see my 14th birthday then…. Everything okay?" Micheal asked.
"Yea- Yeah. Everything is fine. Show me your birthday then." Jeanne said haltingly and motioned for him to lead. He arched an eyebrow but thankfully said nothing as he opened the door and walked out into the hallway. Jeanne followed him, their footsteps oddly muffled, and he led her to one of the lounge areas and held open the door so she could enter first. As she entered she blinked and looked around the room at all the decorations that went from floor to ceiling. Walking forward a bit she noticed that the only people there were Amelia, Desmond, Micheal and-
"Right...I forgot this was the year he gave me my first combat mystic code," Micheal said softly as he came up beside her. She watched a muscular man with purple eyes and shock red hair hand a wrapped box to a young boy. Idly she thought he looked similar to Rider and watched as the boy eagerly ripped off the paper and opened it to pull out a small knife. Amelia immediately took it from him and began to yell at the man who just laughed in response. Jeanne looked up at Micheal and watched as his face seemed to both relax and tighten as his eyes seemed more sad than they were previously. Motion caught her eye and she looked back to see that Amelia had walked off,
"Alright now that she's taken the decoy~" The man said slyly and winked causing young Micheal to laugh, "Let me give you your real present." He reached into his jacket and pulled out a small switch blade. He handed it to Micheal who looked at it and took it to hold in his hand, "This is a memory switch blade. Put some mana into it."
Young Micheal nodded and closed his eyes as the air around him seemed to shimmer. As he did this the switchblade began to glow purple and blue. He opened his eyes and stared in wonder at the knife watching the glow fade but the colors remained. The man tousled his hair, "Now that its memorized your mana it will only ever flip open when you put your mana into it. Pretty neat right~?"
Micheal immediately tried this and with a "snik" sound the blade swung around on its hinge. Micheals eyes went wide, "Thanks Uncle Arnehearte! You're the best!" Micheal quickly flipped the blade closed and jumped at his uncle to hug him as he stood up and laughed.
"...You're family is...the opposite of what I would expect from a Mage family." Jeanne said slowly watching the young Micheal laugh as his Uncle stood up grinning, "When I think of mage families...I think of…the opposite of this." She gestured at the scene before her as she said the words that she could instead of the ones she wanted to. The words where she could express instead how much it meant to her that he was showing her such a precious memory.
"Yeah my family...is a bit odd on that front." Micheal said dryly shaking his head a bit, "But I think we're better off for it. Do you wanna see more stuff?"
Jeanne smiled and nodded, following Micheal out of the room and away from the party.
####
Jeanne sat on Micheals old bed as he leaned back against the wall and explained what she'd have to do to wake him up.
"So one of the risks of this trick is that I am effectively pushing my consciousness into your dream and out of my body. What this means is that when you wake up I'm going to be in limbo and will need some amount of stimulation of one or more of my five senses in order for my body to draw my consciousness back into itself. Sight is out because my eyes are closed. Touch and hearing also won't work as my consciousness is in your dream so I wouldn't be able to react to it. As for smell…." Micheal shifted awkwardly and looked away from her.
Jeanne tilted her head to the side,
"Why wouldn't smell work?"
Micheal opened his mouth, closed it, shook his head, and just looked at her pleading with his eyes as he blushed a bit, "Just trust me when I say it won't work."
Jeanne nodded and watched as Micheal breathed a sigh of relief then leaned his head back onto the wall, "Which leaves taste. Before I...entered your dream I got some chocolate from the pantry-
"We had chocolate and you didn't tell me?" Jeanne interrupted arching an eyebrow in mock outrage causing Micheal to roll his eyes,
"Anyway. Right now you are effectively in full control of your dream which means if you want to wake up all you have to do is wake yourself up. When you do place the chocolate between my lips and I should wake up just fine. While you do that you need to place your fingers on specific spots around my head to 'root' my body. Then you need to….think of me."
Jeanne watched as her Master's face turned red and he coughed into his fist.
"'Think of you'? As in just generally or?" Jeanne asked as Micheal seemed to flinch at her question.
"...As in you need to think of your strongest memory of me...whatever that might be." He said quietly. Jeanne felt her face heat but nodded as Micheal breathed a quick sigh of relief, listed the spots, and had her touch them on his head.
"I know I can trust you but I feel the need to say it anyway: My life and ability to think is quite literally in your hands when you wake up, so…."
Jeanne rolled her eyes and smirked at her Master, "You'll be fineee~ Alright, see you in a bit." Jeanne closed her eyes and focused on waking herself up….
________
Jeanne gingerly opened her eyes and found she was facing the wall of her room. She tried to roll over but found that someone was holding her in place. She looked over her shoulder and saw Micheal breathing slowly and regularly right behind her.
He's so close….
Jeanne felt her heart speed up but then remembered what Micheal had told her. She gently tried to unhook his arm but he adjusted himself behind her and pulled her closer so she could feel his chest rising and falling against her back while she felt his breath moving softly over her hair. Jeanne stiffened and started taking rapid breaths as she felt her heart might explode in her chest.
I can feel his breath on my hair...and since when did he smell so nice?
Jeanne did her best to ignore how hot her face was on top of her racing thoughts and slowly unhooked his arm from around her, sitting up, and turning Micheal so he was lying face up. She sat beside his head and realized that it would be awkward to place her fingers in all the right spots. She thought about it and blushed harder as she realized she would either have to straddle him or put his head in her lap. She slapped her cheeks and focused, "If I don't do this right he won't wake up. Come on you stupid dragon witch. Help your Master."
She muttered to herself as she put his head in her lap and placed her fingers in the spots she needed to only to then remember the chocolate. She quickly got off the bed, making sure to lower Micheal's head gently, and began to look around her room. She found the chocolate quickly, unwrapped it, and broke off a piece taking a small bite as she climbed back onto the bed and got Micheals head back on her lap.
She paused and took a slow breath to calm her nerves and racing heart so she could focus on what she had to do. She placed the chocolate between his lips and moved to hold his head when the chocolate fell out from its spot. She pursed her lips and placed the chocolate back in its place, moved her hands to their spots, and then watched as the chocolate fell again. She growled and eyed the chocolate as she held it up in her hand glaring at it,
"So if it won't stay put then I have to hold it there...but then I won't be able to touch all the spots I need to with my hands….."
Jeanne thought about it for a few seconds and then her brain came up with an idea that made her face burn scarlet. She shook her head and frantically looked around her room for anything that might help or offer another way. Finding nothing she heard Micheal groan under her and she looked down to see he was sweating and his face was contorted in pain as she felt mana start to waterfall off of him. She shook her head hard enough that her ears started to ring and she slapped her cheeks trying to eject the idea out of her head. She looked back down at her Masters face and her eyes lingered on his lips,
I...can't do that. Not after how much mental anguish and the effort to fight past my walls it took for me just to kiss the back of his neck. He just needs to taste the chocolate right? I should be able to….
Jeanne gently grabbed Micheals lower jaw and with some effort pulled his mouth open enough that she could fit the chocolate between his teeth. Seeing that he reflexively bit down on it she sighed and quickly placed her hands on the spots he had shown her, closing her eyes, as she tried to calm her racing heart.
'Think of my strongest memory of him' ...okay…
Jeanne closed her eyes and thought back through the past 8 months. Her first thought was when she had pinned him to ground seconds after he had summoned her. She frowned, shook her head, and kept looking through her memory. As she combed through her memories she came across one that would work. She focused on the memory, felt her lips curve into a smile, and as she channeled mana into the memory it began to replay itself in her head…