ic Night Terrors (IC)

[Thevshi]

Rita Kord Dormitories, Third Floor
Claremont Academy, Freedom City, New Jersey
Wednesday, January 15, 2025, 1:32 AM

 

Over the last several months, Mattie Hopper had generally gotten accustomed to her roommate Lynn Conners having trouble sleeping. There were days where for whatever reason, things just got too overwhelming for Lynn, and she would cry herself to sleep or have to take some medication to help her get to sleep. It was also not at all uncommon for Mattie to be woken up in the middle of the night by Lynn having a nightmare. Sometimes, Lynn would toss and turn a bit, but rollover and settle down without ever waking. Other times, she would be jolted awake in tears, often taking some time to settle down and be able to go back to sleep.

 

Tonight was completely unlike any of those other times.

 

Mattie was jolted awake by the sound of Lynn screaming at the top of her lungs. The blonde sixteen-year-old was violently tossing in her bed, almost as if struggling, and continuing to scream so loud Mattie was sure others in nearby rooms could hear. Unlike other times Lynn had a particularly bad nightmare, this time she did not seem to be waking up.

 

A few doors down on the floor, two of the upper classmen on the floor were indeed jarred awake by what was going on in Room 306. To Carmen Alvarez Arrache, Lynn's screams were as ear piercing as if she were in the room right next to her. 
 
Meanwhile, Iris Miller was awoken by a completely different stimulus. The young telepath felt the feelings of terror that were gripping Lynn's subconscious mind in her nightmare, ringing out as loud as any auditory scream…
 

[MoonSimply]

La Puma Negra "Carmen"

 

For most people, it would be perfectly easy to ignore the light unassuming sound of someone groaning or snoring in their sleep. Screaming, even with the thick and sturdy old walls was something that was easy to ignore. Not for Carmen however, who's hearing well beyond that of any Human being could hear it all, especially when someone was doing the later as she looked up towards the ceiling, staring up at it with annoyed look on her face. If there was one thing that was keeping her up it would be the screaming, and it was starting to become an odd pattern that had now evolved into what it was at that current moment as she sat up, bedraggled and hair wild in light bed clothes as she turned and stood up on the floor, looking to her roommate before heading out the door, grumbling to herself.

 

"¿Por qué no puedo dormir en paz?"

 

"Hey!" she was banging on Mattie and Lynn's door not too long after, grumbling to herself, ¡Tengo una test mañana! You hear that, a test!"

[RocketLord]

BOUNCE!

 

It takes half a second for the sound to register to Mattie. She sits up instantly.

 

Lynn! Lynn is in trouble! 

 

Usually, Lynn calms down again or she wakes up and Mattie helps her calm down and sits with her, or... or something else. Not like this! 

 

Almost falling out of her bed, Mattie stumbles across the floor towards Lynn and reaches out for her. "Lynn! Lynn! Wake up! It's a nightmare, you're alright, I'm here!"

 

And there's knocking on the door to add even more to Mattie's own growing panic. Oh no, somebody else heard Lynn and got woken up! It's Carmen! 

 

Looking back and forth between the door and Lynn for a moment, unsure what to do, Mattie finally stretches an extra arm out from under her night shirt, reaching the door and opening it. 

 

"Carmen! You gotta help me! Lynn's completely out of it! She's havin' a real bad nightmare!"

[Dracostern]

Cerebral

 

Iris would wake up as soon as she felt Lynn's distress. Not just her physical screaming but mental one as well. The blonde would throw her blanket aside and get up, nodding to Carmen and rushing out with her roommate in her PJs, she arrived just after her roomie and would have ripped the door open with her telenieksis had Mattie not opened it. The young woman took a deep breath and would hold out her hands towards Mattie. "Take a deep breath. We're here. Is she still asleep?" Iris asked, but would look towards Lynn (if she could see her) and attempt to telepathically link to the young woman.

[Thevshi]

Slipstream

 

As Mattie let Carmen and Iris into the room she shared with Lynn, the blonde teen had, for the moment, stopped screaming. And while she was no longer violently thrashing in her bed, she was still tossing and turning, her expression seemingly one of distress. "Mom! Where are you?" They heard her mutter as she seemed lost in whatever nightmare had gripped her.

 

As Iris reached out with her telepathy toward the young speedster, she felt her attempt rebuffed rather forcefully by….something. She was certain it was not Lynn, but some other mental presence.

 

But before she could react further to her failure to connect with the girl's mind, or tell the other two what had happened, everything around the teenagers started to blur and start to shift in random directions. It was generally disorienting, and then as suddenly as it began, everything snapped back to normal.

 

Only they were no longer in the Claremont dorm room. They appeared to be standing in the middle of a long hallway of a building, a pair of elevators to their right. Further up to their left was an open doorway that appeared to lead into another room. In the distance, they could hear some sort of disturbance, shouting and some loud crashes of heavy objects falling and glass breaking.

 

And Mattie, Carmen and Iris realized, Lynn was not with them…
 

[Dracostern]

Cerebral

 

The psychic would blink in surprise as she found herself unable to connect to the other's mind...something she could normally do. The teen's heart began to race with worry as their reality began to shift a little bit. Not this crap again! Iris wastried of reality manuplation like this. Still this was concerning. She would look around the hallway and the different exits. 

 

She then turned to Carmen and Mattie to make sure they were ok. If they were with her she would speak up. "So...I couldn't connect to Lynn's mind. Something pushed me back, I suggest we stick together if we want to help her." 

[RocketLord]

BOUNCE!

 

Mattie was frantically explaining how Lynn was still sleeping, how she usually woke up when Mattie got to her, and this all seemed different, and then... 

 

Then they're suddenly not in the room anymore, but in a big long hallway.

 

Suddenly being in a different place like this is enough to shock Mattie back to her senses, or at least calm her down enough to take stock of the situation. She looks around. What is this place? Where are they? 

 

"Where are we? What is this place? Where's Lynn?" 

 

It's not normal for the others to see Mattie like this, but she is, quite frankly, panicking. She had promised Lynn she'd be there for her, and now look at everything that's happening...

 

"Something pushed back? Is this a, y'know, a mind thing? Like a, what's it called... y'know, the thing you and Daniel can do? A mind thingie?"

[MoonSimply]

La Puma Negra "Carmen"

 

Crossing her arms and looking down slightly towards Mattie as she opened the door, her eyes' not showing much sympathy going towards them as she looked over towards Lynn. It wouldn't occur to her that Iris was right behind her until she managed to get around her. What mattered much only to the irritable cat girl was that her precious sleep was being interrupted, fixing the wild hair that sat atop her head. It was never a dull moment at Claremont as she looked now to Lynn, who screamed into the night, as if unable to escape from whatever sort of bad dream she was in, as if there was invisible hand gripped around her. It was then that she stopped screaming.

 

"What do you mean she's still asleep, she's been yelling the whole time," Carmen spoke, clearly not understanding what was going on, "If we need to wake her up then I'll do it. Quicker I get to go to.... sleep"

 

Disoriented was an understatement as Carmen fell back on her behind, outright confused at what had just happened. There wasn't a twitch of the ear or a sudden smell, more so, just a lack of near everything for a few moments as everything seemed to change as if in a flash, "What?" she spoke as she slowly got back up, "What do you mean pushed you back, like physically? Where are we?"

[Dracostern]

Cerebral

 

"Ok Mattie take a deep breath." Iris was panicking a bit too but had to remain calm, like Carmen...or at least how Carmen seemed to Iris. At their questions the young woman would shake her head. "No, I tried to connect to Lynn's mind with my psychic abilities but was pushed back by something. This...has not happened before with her. That's why there is more going on...though I am unsure where this place is. I think we should explore however, sitting around will not help us. We need to save Lynn and get out of here." 

 

The sounds in the distance unnerved her a little bit but she soildered on. That was likely their destination. "The question is, do we go right or left?" 

[RocketLord]

BOUNCE!

 

Mattie looks up at Iris and nods weakly. There's tears welling up in her eyes, but she nods again and does her best to take a deep breath. How does that even work if they're inside a mind thingie? Can they even breathe in here? Now she's overthinking it and it feels weird and...

 

And Lynn is still in trouble.

 

She takes a deep breath. Steels herself. Her lip is only quivering slightly, as she reaches up and wipes her eyes with the back of her arm.

 

"We need to find Lynn."

 

A quick pause, she considers her options.

 

"What's all that noise? Maybe that's Lynn, or someone chasin' her or somethin' like that?"

[MoonSimply]

La Puma Negra

 

At first, she sniffed the air, trying to scope out whatever this supposed dream was hiding out in terms of smells, if there was at all anything to go on in such a reality as she assumed none of this could be real at all. Inside someone else own mind wasn't something that she was planning on doing tonight, and the act of being in such alone was a growing annoyance to the werecat, who focused to listen and hear the surroundings that seemed increasingly ominous. Whatever was down these halls wasn't a good thing and she was making sure that they were definitely not caught off guard if she could help it.

 

"Stop crying," she spoke with a partially uncaring tone.  Abrasive it was, Carmen would close her eyes and listen in, focusing and feeling out the sounds for what she could. Such a foreign world this dreamland was, out of some weird horror book she read it felt like, "I got to hear what's around us alright?"

 

After a time, Carmen started to hear something, what sounded like the panicked voice that was familiar to her and then, another voice. A more quiet voice but still one that seemed far troubled, "Left and down the hall, pick your poison I guess."

Edited December 30, 2024 by MoonSimply

[Dracostern]

Cerebral
 

Iris was doing a better job at masking her worry and other hidden feelings regarding Lynn that she dared not share to anyone. The telepath would nod towards Mattie. "Yes, and find her we will." With that she turned to Carmen. She didn't comment on the other's snappy attitude as she was more or less used to it at this point. They were roomies after all. That being said Iris trusted the other's senses and abilities, so if she suggested they go to the left and down the hallway then that is where they will go.

 

"Alright ladies let's move. We may not have much time." The young woman would activate her Mind Shield and Forefield just in case before heading quietly down the left hallway. She would pause after a bit to wait for the others.

[Thevshi]

GM

 

Iris could feel her mental shield go up and her forcefield appeared around her. Even if this was Lynn's dream, they at least seemed to have access to their powers.

 

The trio of Claremont students then moved down the hallway, reaching the opening to their left, they found that it led to a large open living space. The massive room was two stories high, with stairs at either end that led to balconies on the upper floor. The area immediately in front of the opening was furnished with several large sofas and chairs, an area rug, a few coffee and end tables and a few other assorted furnishings. To their right the space led into a large open kitchen with a long island. The outer wall of the room was nothing but windows, reaching up the full two stories.

 

Sitting on the area rug near the living room furniture was a teenage girl that looked perhaps fourteen, she had her knees up to her chest and her arms wrapped around them as she looked out the windows and rocked back and forth, all the while quietly saying "they are too strong, the emotions are too strong."

 

But even as the three teenage girls took in the scene, it was the scene outside the window that quickly drew their attention. Outside could be seen the recognizable skyline of downtown Freedom City, only there were a couple of ultramodern buildings they did not recognize. But it was the sky that truly stood out…or rather the lack of sky. As far as they could see, a massive temporal anomaly hung above the city. For Carmen and Iris, who had seen Lawrence use his powers on several occasions, it had similarities, only this was like a massive tear in time and space that was almost painful to look at. Here and there, tendrils of the anomaly extended down toward the city, and from what the teens could see, had apparently ripped apart buildings they came into contact with. As they watched, dozens more of those tendrils began to extend down towards other parts of the city and beyond out into the bay…..
 

[Dracostern]

Cerebral

 

Iris looked around the large room, she had noticed on the way here that her powers were still active, that was good. She remembered the other time she was randomly taken to a strange place without her powers. This was hopefully going to be better then this. The young woman would notice the younger woman and start to move over to her, before she paused and glanced outside, then her eyes widened. This was...not going to be good. Iris knew the basics of Lynn's story so she had an idea as to what that was showing. 

 

"Well crap. ignore the windows, I suspect they are memories." She called back before slowly approaching the girl.

[RocketLord]

BOUNCE!

 

Mattie sniffles when Carmen tells her to stop crying and nods. She tries, but there's still the occasional sob as they move along, heading towards the noise and the large room. "I can't help it, alright?" she manages to get out in between sobs. "I'm really scared about what's happenin' to Lynn..."

 

The room they reach next is huge. So tall, big windows, a Freedom City skyline that looks just somewhat off... and the girl in the middle of the room, crying.

 

"Mem'ries?" Mattie asks Iris, looking at her as she begins to approach the girl. All of this is Lynn's memories?

 

Holding her hands up, doing her best to look all normal, Mattie approaches the girl, wipes her tears away and puts on her best reassuring smile. "Hey, are you alright? I'm Bounce, that's Cerebral and La Puma Negra. We're here lookin' for a friend, but can we... can we help you? You look like you need help?"

[MoonSimply]

La Puma Negra

 

Carmen rolled her eyes, "Well crying about it isn't gonna help her or us for that matter. I might not know what the heck is going on but I'm sure we'll figure something out if anything. The only thing you should fear is what happens if we don't get out of here, alright?" she says while keeping her ears on edge. The werecat may sound like she didn't care but deep down she was just as worried if anything, keeping a stoic and calm face, if not an annoyed one.

 

Looking out the window, she wasn't amused, seeing the same city vistas that she was used to within Freedom City while she was with Michael or travelling around the city as it was already. A few things were of note of course, being the buildings there. Several of them different, alien almost, foreign to what she was used to, "What sort of memories," she'd turn her head back, looking to the unfamiliar child. Sure, Carmen had dealt with kids before, in the orphanage, but there were two different responses that she got with children and decided to avoid both in this sort of circumstance.

Edited January 1 by MoonSimply
Added "un" to "familiar"

[Thevshi]

Slipstream

 

The girl looked up at Mattie as she approached. Tears were running down the girl's face as she continued to slowly rock back and fourth. "I didn't want to do this…the White Rabbit made me. The emotions are too strong….everything is out of control." The girl said weakly.

 

As she spoke, the three teens heard a loud noise from outside and glancing up saw that one of the tendrils of the temporal distortion had descended into a building a short way down the street. As the three girls watched, the building began to tear apart, the debris begin sucked up into the tear in time and space to seemingly disappear inside it. The tendril continued to descend until it reached the street level (and possibly deeper) and in moments had completely engulfed the entire skyscraper.

 

Then there was another loud CRASH from somewhere else inside the building, off to the right as they faced the windows. And then a familiar *WOOSH* of air as a blur came streaking into the large living space from somewhere further into the building. 

 

As soon as the blur appeared, it skidded to a halt a short distance away, revealing Lynn. The blonde teen was dressed in a navy-blue skirt that went to just above her knees, a white button up blouse and sneakers. Tears were running down her cheeks, and while she seemed panicked and afraid, that was quickly joined by a look of surprise.

 

"Mattie? Iris, Carmen? What are you doing here?" She asked, seemingly confused by their presence. "This….this isn't right." The blonde speedster then looked at the girl near Mattie with another surprised look. "Victoria?"
 

[Dracostern]

Cerebral

 

Iris raised her eyebrow a little bit 'White Rabbit'? Who was that? Outside of novels she hadn't heard of anyone with that name before, must be a new villain of some kind. Still who was this young girl? Before the telepath could ask, she would notice something out of the corner of her eyes. Iris turned her head to glance outside the building via the windows and her eyes widened for a split second. Just seeing those tendrils of distortion tear the building close by to shreads. They needed to get out of here...now. She didn't know how damage in the mindscape would effect them in real life and she did not want to risk putting that to the test! 

 

Then there was a CRASH and that got her attention again, spotting Lynn caused relief to wash over Iris, she was happy that the other was alright...physically at least...they could deal with everything together now. "Lynn! I'm glad you're alright. I'm not sure if you are aware of where we are, but we need to go." She spoke as she took a step closer to the Speedster, then glanced at the other girl. "...Victoria?" 

 

 

[RocketLord]

BOUNCE!

 

"Emotions? White Rabbit? What're you talkin' about?" 

 

Mattie is so confused, and then, everything that happens outside and... and... it's taking away the buildings. Tendrils from the sky.

 

Lynn comes crashing in. Mattie lights up for a moment, then sees her expression, the tears and... she can't leave the girl. Victoria?

 

"Lynn! What's going on? What is this place? You were screaming, Iris tried to help and then we were here!"

[MoonSimply]

La Puma Negra

 

"Same could be said of you... for wherever we are someone's mind. I can barely smell anything and my hearings all over the place here. This whole place is just a mess screwy things starting to grind my gears," Carmen says responding to the newly arrived Lynn. They were all there in a room with crying little girl, stuck in some strange and weird dimension of the mind that had embraced them all in its clutches, trapping them there for some reason unknown outside of the nightmare of the dreamer that had them. If this was a dream at all and not some other worldly place, there was much to worry about and a growing concern was forming in the back of her mind that it all could be just an illusion, that their own minds were somehow intertwined potentially speaking. However, Carmen didn't think of it further, too frustrated as crossed her arms and kept a good watch in the best that way that she could. 

 

The mention of a White Rabbit didn't really strike her too well, yet she had no clue what it meant, "What is she talking about, made her do what?"

[Thevshi]

Slipstream

 

Lynn’s confusion seemed to just grow as she was looked at each of the other Claremont students as they began asking her questions. "What are you talking about? This isn't making any sense." She said, a sense of panic seeming to grow as she began moving unintentionally in blurring movements of superspeed. The blonde teen then stopped, focusing on Carmen. "Wait….are you all really here? How?"

 

She stopped and looked out the windows, more tears running down her cheeks as she watched as several more tendrils of the temporal distortion descended into the city, engulfing more buildings. "This…this is the beginning of my timeline's destruction." Lynn said, the pain of looking at it evident in her voice. Turning back to the other teens she continued, "But…this is my nightmare, how are you all in it?"

 

The blonde teen then looked down at Victoria. "And how are you here?" She asked the other girl, who was still crying and clutching her knees.

 

"I didn't want to do it Lynn!" She cried out. "The White Rabbit made me!"

 

"White Rabbit? What…does that have to do with…"

 

But before Lynn could finish there was the loud sound of a something smashing and a distorted voice that called out from the direction Lynn had come from. 

 

"Sis..ter…"

 

Turning towards the sounds, the Claremont students saw a human shaped hole in time and space walking through what had once been a wall but now had a large section that had been torn apart like the buildings outside. The figure was hard to look at, a shimmering absence and presence, a distortion in time and space like the one in the sky outside, seemingly both empty and full at the same time, existing in more than four dimensions, drawing in everything around it, including the light.

 

At the sight of the entity, Lynn took several steps back away from it. "No…no….no…" She muttered in a terrified tone as more tears began running down her cheeks….
 

[RocketLord]

BOUNCE!

 

The White Rabbit made Victoria do it? Isn't he some kind of bad guy from Emerald City, with his own gang and everything? Mattie's pretty sure she read about him for a class or something once and...

 

That means that a bad guy's behind this. 

 

Everything going on around them, everything that Lynn saw when her world was destroyed, reliving it all, dragging them all into this...

 

It was all a bad guy's fault.

 

And he's doing all this to hurt Mattie's friends?

 

HECK NO!

 

Mattie's right arm shoots forward, stretching into a punch aimed directly at the form that calls her sister. Taunting her with her dead brother!? That's just too low!

 

"I'm not gonna let you hurt Lynn or anyone else! Leave my friend alone!"

[Dracostern]

Cerebral

 

The White Rabbit...Iris did recognise that name now that she thought about it, what was someone with links to a criminal in Emerald City doing here? Just the thought of that city and it's criminals made Iris feel extremely uncomfortable considering her past there. But the young woman could not think about that now. She noticed the strange entity and thought it was that being she saw during Fiji, though no, it was not the same...still it put her on edge just as much as the other. Iris would move and stay in front of Lynn protectively. Sibling or not, that thing was dangerous

 

She was going to suggest that they run, but then Mattie went to try and punch the Being. Iris would narrow her eyes. "Stay behind me Lynn.." She turned her head back to the speedster and gave her a small smile. 'We'll keep you safe.' she would speak into Lynn's mind before turning to focus on the being itself. 

"Carmen get ready!" She then got a more serious look on her face as she glanced at her roommate. 

 

[MoonSimply]

La Puma Negra

 

Carmen didn't recognize the name at all, thinking it silly when it sounded like it was the name of some sort of villain group that was around in Emerald City. There was supposed to be a field trip out there later in the semester the city but she had never gone herself. For Carmen, it wasn't a distant place, no less farther than Freedom City was when she was living in Puerto Rico. Of course, Slips from a different timeline, one that was unknown to her and was just as equally foreign. A dead one at that. There was a wish that it wasn't as complicated as it sounded but Carmen found that a lot of things came more complicated when you became a heroine. It was just one of those things that came with the career path that she was assuming the mantle of.

 

"I'm ready as I'll ever be. He's got to go through us to get to her!" she growled out, claws out and assuming stance, ready to fight, if need be, holding her action as she waited to see what it would do. Carmen had faced plenty of things in her life so far and she was determined that this would be no different.

 

"You want to go buddy, lets go. I don't care if it's a dream, we can still kick your ass!"

[Thevshi]

Slipstream

 

Mattie's fist lashed out at the human shaped temporal distortion, the teen managing to stay focused on the figure despite how painful it was to look at it. The attack was on the mark, or at least it would have been if there was a physical body there to strike. Instead, Mattie found there was nothing physical to connect with, her hand passing harmlessly through the figure.

 

But as the teen's hand passed through the temporal distortion, she felt excruciating pain shoot up her arm as she experienced a feeling as if something were trying to tear off her lower arm. Despite the pain, Mattie managed to pull her arm back free from the distortion. 

 

The entity did not react at all to the attack, instead taking several slow steps forward, seemingly undeterred by the threats from Iris and Carmen.

 

"No….please don't make me do this…" Iris heard Lynn say quietly as Victoria cried out, seemingly in pain.

 

But then, the temporal distortion that made up the figure seemed to flicker slightly and suddenly was gone. Standing before the teenage girls was Lawrence, or at least someone that looked very much like Lawerence, though perhaps a bit older. He was wearing jeans and white T-shirt, tears  running down his cheeks as well as he focused on Lynn.

 

"Lynn…you have to stop me. Drain my powers…cut me off from…it." He pleaded, holding out his hand toward the blonde teen. Unlike the Lawrence the others knew, this one did not speak with an upper-class British accent, instead, like Lynn, his accent was typical American, with a trace of a Jersey accent.

 

Lynn hesitated a moment before she stepped forward, reaching up with one hand toward her brother’s extended hand. The blonde teen's hand was shaking as it was surrounded by a faint glow, and she connected with the offered hand. The glow spread over Lawrence, before a similar glow formed around Lynn. Lawrence seemed to stagger slightly, a somewhat tried look coming over his face as the glow faded and Lynn released his hand.

 

But then suddenly a pained look came over his face. "AAAAAHH!" He yelled as temporal energy flickered around him again, causing Lynn to back way. But Lawrence seemed to regain control, as the temporal energy disappeared, although he seemed to be in extreme pain. "It….wasn't enough…you…you have to drain my life force!" He pleaded through clenched teeth. "You have to kill me! It may be the only way to stop this." Lawrence glanced out the windows, where there was almost no more visible buildings, the vast temporal distortion in the sky now filling almost everything in view. "Please!"

 

Lynn's entire body was shaking as she raised her hand again, this time an angry red glow surrounding it. Tears ran down her cheeks as she hesitated, her hand shaking in place, and then the red glow faded, and the teen dropped her arm down by her side.

 

"I…I can't." She sobbed.