Passing Notes

Chapter 18: we love getting possessed by trauma

A/N idk why I decided it was time for you guys to get some of the plot served

Light jolted up, eyes wide. It felt so cold, so lonely, and so wrong. She looked around. All that surrounded her was rubble and debris. Where was she? What had she been doing? She called out for her friends, hoping one of them would find her and save her from this strange mess. She reached out to nothing, desperately hoping for help.

Her hand dropped. She glanced on either side of her. To her left lay Aqua. Her friend's short bob of hair consisted of water, usually bright, clear, and sparkling. However it was dull, tainted with dust and debris. Light quickly scanned her for injury. She was breathing, and appeared to be in stable condition.

Light quickly turned to her right, Shadow laying there. She was definitely in worse condition. Her hair was barely drifting around as it always did. Her breathing seemed pretty shallow, but there were no injuries that seemed fatal.

Light sighed, still hazy over all that had happened. Her other friends must have ended up somewhere else. She then realized she should probably check herself for any sort of injury as well.

Looking down, her hands began to shake. All down her left arm was a mess of tattoos, swirling and shifting. It took over her whole left side. That's when she remembered. Everything that had happened, everything he had done.

No, what she had let him do. If she had caught his shifty behavior, if she hadn't been so trusting. He was out there now, gone for now but he'd be back.

"Dawn..? Hellloooo? Earth to Dawn...?"

He wasn't going to quit. If he'd gotten what he had wanted would it have turned out this way? Would the others have been okay?

"Dream, what's going on? Is she in a state of distress?"

"I... I don't know. I can't tell."

"What do you mean you can't tell?! You're an empath for goodness sake, you always know how we feel!"

"Dawn's different! I can only detect her when she's really happy, and even that is sporadic!"

She clenched her fist. No, this is your fault. Silence, wind whipping around on that cool winters day. You know what you did. I know you can hear me. Answer me!

"There's not even her usual calmness. If I didn't see her I wouldn't even say she's physically here. It like she's a ghost."

If you hadn't been such an awful person, maybe we wouldn't be here. But why couldn't you just die in peace? Why did you have to hang on so strongly? Why did it have to be me?

"Hold up guys, I got this!"

"Killer we don't even know what's going on! What do you mean you've... Killer NO!"

"Killer this is not the time to test hypothesis', we don't know what her current state is and-"

"Killer YES!"

Suddenly, Dawn was met with a chilling sensation. It swept over her, snapping her out of whatever trance she had been in. She looked down and blinked. She was absolutely soaking.

"Killer! You moron! You didn't have to dump your water bottle out on her!"

Lust was scolding Killer thoroughly, but he didn't look the slightest bit annoyed.

Dawn's face began to feel like water was somehow still trickling down her face. She reached up and brushed her face with her fingers. Water was flowing down... from her eyes. Oh, so she was crying. Huh.

Dust groaned and rubbed the area between his eyes. This was a lot, and it was so unexpected. They had just been playing a game of volleyball, and of course they passed it to Dawn. She'd seemed fine, but the second it hit her left arm she'd just stopped. Stood still on the middle of the court, her eyes glued to a random part of the wall. He smacked Killer on the back of the head.

"Now look what you did moron, you made her cry!"

Blueberry rushed to give her a handkerchief, and Ink waited by her side to see what she would say. Outer blocked everyone else from going near, just in case it made it worse. She seemed pretty overwhelmed, and none of them understood what had happened.

As her friends fawned over her and everyone held back clamored to get her attention, Dawn slowly glanced around. Everything seemed to move in slow motion; the voices a slow and garbled mess in her head.

Where was she again? Who were these strange people? She glanced down at her outfit. What was she wearing? They all seemed concerned. If only she could remember what was happening.

She looked down at her hand. A glove was covering it, but the familiar stinging pain was there. That strange set of tattoos. Her eyes widened and she looked up vacantly.

"He's coming. He's coming back for me."

Blueberry nervously waved his hand in front of her face as Ink pelted her with his questions.

"Who's coming back? What happened? Why are you crying? Did you get hurt? It's me, Ink. You know, your classmate?"

Nightmare crossed his arms and tilted his head at her. It was as if he was wordlessly asking if she was okay. Who was that guy and why was he concerned about her?

Dawn gasped. It all came flooding back. That had been a memory. A flashback that was so engulfing she had forgotten who and where she was now. It wasn't random, it was a warning. He was coming back. She couldn't let what happened last time happen again. She knew there was time, probably a few months. He didn't know her new name, location, or appearance.

Still, he'd be back. She would need to be prepared, but did she want to drag anyone into this? It couldn't end up like last time, she couldn't let it. She couldn't handle it. She took a deep breath and wiped her face.

"Sorry guys, I don't know what happened there. Had some sort of weird flashback. It won't happen again, don't worry."

Everyone exchanged glances and Dream reached out to touch her shoulder. This was unheard of, and they weren't sure if they should pester her about it.

"Hey, you know you can talk to any and all of us whenever right? We're here for you."

Dawn plastered on a fake smile. It was really sweet of him, but she wasn't ready to curse her new friends to the same fate as the others had all those years ago.

"Of course! It isn't anything to worry about, so let's just keep playing. I'll sit out and watch okay?"

Everyone reluctantly agreed, mostly because there wasn't really anything else that they could do about it. Nobody remained unworried for her safety though, and they all wished she'd tell them.

Only one person remained staring at her, the only one to see her drop her facade for a second. Her smile slipped into a more concerned, calculated look. Nightmare narrowed his eyes.

For a second there, when she was distracted by trying to appease her classmates he had felt it. A cold gnawing of someone who has just been informed of something unavoidable. Something anyone would want to avoid, something that they had to plan for.

She was hiding something, and he would have to find out what. He could only hope that he would find out before it actually happened.

Cross tapped Nightmare on the shoulder and pulled him aside.

"Nightmare, I don't think that ghost is some victim. For a second there, Dawn and her shared the worst side eye I have ever seen. Something's wrong."

Nightmare nodded and hummed. He knew this already, but now there was solid evidence from two people.