RP:Falling Apart To Half Time: Thanks For The Memories

Part of the Do You Believe In Magic? Arc

Summary: Khitti's sister Lydia reaches out to Pilar amongst her dreams, begging her to save Khitti as soon as possible.

Frostmaw Tavern

Pilar laid awake, staring at the ceiling. The cool air brought no goose pimples to her dead, bare flesh. Beside her in the bed, snuggled under the blankets, was her living lover. A woman with green skin and leathery wings poking out from the covers. A dragon. Pilar looked at her fondly and ran her fingers through her brown hair. Her lover sighed contentedly, and a small smile came to Pilar's face. She did so love her. Her thoughts didn't remain happy for long, and soon she was again thinking about what had been keeping her awake. Her lost family. The dragon had done a very good job of distracting her for a few hours, but in the dark, empty room, Pilar could only think of Khitti, and what she must have been going through... If she was even still alive at all.

As Pilar would lie awake, a dim light would appear in her mind and slowly get brighter, shifting between every color known to man. It would continue to do this, suck her consciousness in until...well...until everything went black. From everywhere and nowhere the sound of crying could be heard, sniffling in accompaniment. No longer were things in the darkness as multiple scenes came into view. Quite a few were of Khitti's fondest memories playing over and over again: the redhead and Pilar cooking together in House Dragana, her and Dominic dancing, her and Brand arguing with each other as usual, but it was all clearly in jest. There were lots of others as well that weren't so wonderful, a lot of which wasn't even Khitti's. Had she ever been to the Underdark? She hadn't said so. Pain emanated from these thoughts, screams echoing. All of these faded too, much like Pilar's waking moments, and soon she'd be dropped into what had become to Khitti a dream within a dream within a dream. The environment would the illusionist was...not at all of this world. A rock band played upon a stage, the music loud enough for Pilar to feel it in her chest. There beside her was Khitti, of course, jumping up and down with her fist in the air, singing along to the words. For a few moments as Pilar adjusted, it'd all seem like slow motion. Khitti was alive and well and looking extremely happy.

Pilar had literally zero idea what was going on. Everything looked alien and surreal. Her clothes weren't even her normal everyday wear. She was wearing pants... PANTS!... and a t-shirt that read Fall Out Boy. "Dance dance! Dance dance! Dance dance! Dance dance!" And the song was over, and everyone was screaming, but Pilar noticed none of it. She saw only her dear friend, whole and healthy. "K-Khitti..." she whispered, tears coming to her eyes. She threw her arms around her adoptive sister and sobbed.

Khitti blinked repeatedly as her attention was pulled away from band. She'd wrap her arms around her dearest friend, holding her and trying to calm her down. "Pilar? What's wrong?" There was only a hint of a German accent in her voice, nothing as strong as the real Khitti's. "Hey, we're not even drunk yet and you're already crying? Are you okay? We didn't have to come here, you know. It's your birthday, your choice." She'd press a reassuring, older sister-like kiss to the younger girl's temple and give her another squeeze. The strange thing was out of all of this is that Khitti was not only whole and healthy, but she was also very much breathing and her heart beat. The kiss that had been given was warm and not the typical coolness that came with being a vampire. In addition to all of that, Pilar too was amongst the living. The music echoed in the background, the songs having switched, "Light 'em up up up...Light 'em up up up...I'm on fiyah!" Khitti did her best and checked Pilar over though, making sure it was nothing more than possibly a touch of nerves thanks to the large crowd.

Pilar heard her heartbeat, and felt her own. She gasped, finally realizing that oh yeah, she was breathing, too, and looked at Khitti. "I... I thought I'd never see you again..." she squeaked out. This was all too much. This strange music, if it could be called music (and yet, she kind of liked it???), these weird clothes, and most of all, the two of them alive, really alive! Was it any wonder she was sort of freaking out? She tried to focus only on what was important. Khitti. Her Khitti. Her Khitti, unharmed and okay.

Khitti tilted her head a bit to the side, staring curiously at her sister, "Never see me again?" She tapped her chin idly, "Oh, I guess it had been a month or so that I was in that hospital, hadn't it? You know Brand and Dominic wasn't going to let anything happened to me. I mean, look! I'm perfectly fine now! Got a bunch of meds to help with my dreams and PTSD. Brand's been so good to me, taking care of me and stuff, and Dominic's been a right little fluffy jerk as usual. I won't need to be taking another trip to the mental ward any time soon. Don't worry." She lightly strokes Pilar's cheek affectionately, "I'm not going anywhere ever again."

Pilar sniffled and hugged Khitti again. She had no clue was Khitti was on about, but she feared she could be ripped from her arms at any moment. Whether she was in a mental ward or in a jar didn't matter, she never wanted Khitti taken from her again. "I love you, Khitti."

Khitti shook her head at Pilar, grinning wildly, "I love you too, Pilar." The lights overhead flickered in time with the music until suddenly the music faded and Pilar was suddenly in a rather large kitchen, even bigger than House Dragana's. "Vhaaaat? Zhe Yule ball has almost started?! How zhe hell am I gonna get all zhis cakelog baked for Hilde in time?!" Lithrydel's version of Khitti tapped into her vampiric abilities, using that agility to mix a bowl of chocolate batter as quickly as she could. "Hildegarde's going to kill me if she doesn't have cakelog. Who's bright idea vas it to take on zhis task?" The batter was poured into a few cake pans and the door to a strange looking magical oven slammed shut. "Zhank god zhat idiot Blue gave me zhis oven. I'd never get anything done." The redhead was covered in all sorts of ingredients, a frown lining her lips as she realized it. "Brand's gonna get pissed and Dominic's gonna be sad. I doubt I'll get zhere in time for any dancing vhatsoever."

Pilar looked around, bewildered. Well, it was nice to be back somewhere normal, even if she didn't recognize the kitchen. "Um... Khitti?" she asked. It still hadn't clicked that this was a dream, because dreams are weird like that.

"PILAR! You've gotta help me. Zhe ball is starting in like twenty minutes! Vhy did I tell Hilde I'd help her?! I'm never on time to anything. How am I supposed to get all of zhis cakelog baked, take -another- bath, and get all dressed up in twenty minutes?!" She lets out a whine, then goes back to filling up more cake pans as she lets the ones already in the oven currently go about their baking business. There seemed to be no end to her freaking out.

Pilar decided to just roll with it. She went to the sink and washes her hands before jumping into the baking fray. "It'll be okay, Khitti. Everything will be fine."

Khitti stares at Pilar exasperatedly, "Okay?! It's not gonna be okay!" She draws in a much unneeded deep breath, then lets it all out in an attempt to calm down. "I zhink he's gonna propose, Pilar. Ve've been together for how many years now? It's...it's all gone by so fast. V-vhat do I say?" She pauses for a second. "DOES ZHIS MEAN I'M MARRYING BRAND TOO?!" Her eyes got all big and wide like a deer in headlights. "Oh son of a--."

Pilar stopped what she was doing and walked over to Khitti, placing her hands on her shoulders. "Khitti. Look at me. If he does ask you to marry him, what you say, is 'yes.' You love him, don't you? And like you said, you've been together for so long. Things will not change as much as you fear." Pilar's memory was fuzzy. HAD they been together for years? Wasn't it just a few months? She couldn't remember. Either way, she grinned. "Besides, I saw the PERFECT wedding dress for you~" Wait, had she?

"But...but...but...I'm not vife material! I-I-I can't even stay out of trouble for a day or so." Despite being held by Pilar, she shook, and if she could possibly be any paler than she had been, she was now. "I mean, I guess I could be imagining it but he's been so odd lately. Vhat if it's not zhat? Vhat if it's something else? Vhat if I've done something vrong?" Emerald irises dart around, searching the room for answers. "Zhey've both been so stupidly secretive and quiet lately. Zhat's not like zhem at all. Not even a bit of arguing between zhe two." The timer on the strange looking oven goes off and Khitti turns to take the few cakes out and pop in the rest of them. "If my heart vas still beating, Pilar, I zhink it'd burst."

Pilar smiled at Khitti. "You are a loving and loyal person, Khitti. You'll make a wonderful wife. You are not in trouble." She went to Khitti's side and, once the cakes were taken care of, hugged her. "Trust me, Dominic is a good man. If you had done anything wrong, which I'm sure you haven't, he wouldn't wait for a big public event to tell you." She brushed some flour off Khitti's face. "Proposal or not, you are going to finish these cakes on time, go to the ball, look stunning, and have a wonderful time."

Khitti manages a smile for her dear adopted sister, a few tears brought to her eyes. "Vhat zhe hell vould I do vithout you, Pilar?" With the back of her left wrist, she wipes at her eyes, then turns to tend to the cakes now that they've cooled, "I'd probably get snatched up by a dragon again. Zhis time zhough, it'd likely be Hildegarde for crying on her cakes." There's a pause and a tilt of her head. "Even now I'm still afraid Raiez vill come back. I vas so stupid. I should've killed her, Pilar." As if on cue, a loud roar sounds overhead and the entire house shakes nearly off its foundation. Khitti lets out a cry, but it's much too late. The rather large, angry Blue known only as Raiez Vayne peeks an eye into the nearest window and soon after an enormous scaly claw bursts through the side of the wall and snatches the redhead up. There's no kidnapping this time however as the Blue begins her incantation and lets loose a large breath of fire, leaving nothing of Khitti but cinder and a charred seashell bracelet.

"Khitti!!!" Pilar screamed, grabbing for Khitti's hand. The older vampire slipped through her fingers, however, and was no more. Pilar let out a wail of grief and fell to her knees, sobbing. Her body shook as she cried and screamed, tears running down her cheeks. "No! No! No!" She pounded the floor and wept. It wasn't fair for her to lose another sister, especially like this. There was a clatter as Raiez dropped the bracelet, and Pilar looked up at it through blurry vision. She picked up the bracelet and cradled it to her chest. It was all she had left of her Khitti. Sobbing, she slipped it on, then got to her feet. She grabbed a knife from the table and, screaming like a madwoman, dashed at Raiez. "Monstrua! Te mataré!!!"

Raiez only swatted Pilar against the wall and then left. As Pilar would hit with a 'thud', everything would go black. The sound of crying would fill the silence of the void, Pilar left to pick up the pieces of her heart and mind from such a jarring experience. Banshee-like wailing would continue, but before Pilar'd be able to investigate, a figure in white would appear behind her. The strangely familiar looking redhead would attempt to envelop the illusionist in a hug, her voice calm and soft. "Both her waking thoughts and her dreams are so toxic right now. Filled with so much dread, so much despair, so much pain. I'm doing what I can with the strength I have, but it is waning quickly. You must find her. You must rescue her soon or all will be lost." Should Pilar turn around, she'd find herself face to face with Khitti, or...someone that looked a hell of a lot like her.

Pilar, disoriented, struggled to her feet. What was happening this now? Was she dead? Had Raiez killed her? But if this was the afterlife, where was her family? Her dear friend? When she felt arms wrap around her, she tensed up, but relaxed when the person spoke. That voice had a soothing power to it, almost. "Her...?" Pilar extricated herself from the hug and turned around. She gasped. "Khitti?"

The woman shook her head but offered her a kind smile. "No. But, she has spoken of me, though perhaps not so much as one normally does about family." Lydia places her hands behind her back, clasping all ten fingers together. "She's barely clinging on. Her mind is so fragile right now. Memories that are not her own surge through it like lightning." She chuckles faintly at her play on words. "I was rooting about in her mind for memories to calm her, to bring her back to something like her former self...and then...I found you. Not just a memory, but a link that you allowed to be created in her weakest of moments." She walks around Pilar slowly, bare feet padding across the blackness beneath them. "Even after the awful thing she did to you, you were still there for her and even now I can sense your worry despite not even being anywhere near you. When you find her, and I know you will because Brand and Dominic are not going to go without her, she'll need you. It's so dark here now. Her light is fading. You need to pull her back into it."

"You're her sister. Lydia," Pilar realized. As Lydia circled her, she listened to her words carefully. "So... she's still alive? She's really still alive?" Tears came to her eyes again, but this time they were tears of joy. "I... Can I use the link to reach her? To send her good thoughts? To send my love?" Part of her wondered how Lydia was even here when she was supposed to be dead, but it was hardly a pressing matter. Khitti was her focus right now. "I... I swear I'll bring her back. I won't lose another sister."

"I cannot make that happen. You are only here because you're dreaming." She motions to the blackness and the crying that surrounded them, "Her hope is being snuffed out and I am quickly fading. I won't be able to hold out for much longer. They're coming to find me. I've...I've meddled too much." She looked regretful but didn't dwell on it. "Go to Dominic and Brand. Tell them they must be swift or they shall lose her forever." True to her warning, Lydia began to look transparent, much like Brand's shadow form. "Save her, Pilar...it's not her time to die just yet."

"I will! I'll save her!" Pilar promised as Lydia faded from view. Soon, Pilar's consciousness faded, and she was left in a dreamless sleep. She awoke to birds tweeting, and her lover's arm wrapped around her. She contemplated her odd dream, brow furrowed. Khitti was alive, but fading fast. She needed to be found, and now. She kissed her lover's forehead, rose, and walked to her wardrobe. She opened the oaken doors and stared at her armor. She hoped it could stand up to a dragon. Because one way or another, she was going to face Raiez, and she was going to save her sister.