Lucifer's Mansion, very early Sunday morning

[betterthanaplan]

None of Duke's dreams had been exactly kind lately, but they'd at least mostly stuck to a general anxiety-dream structure. Wandering the stark white hallways of the barn, shouting for Audrey, unable to escape the looming spectre of a trouble, which in dream logic seemed to mostly take the form of a generic "boogey man" figure. The sort of thing that left him discombobulated and out of sorts throughout the morning, but not the sort that would wake him abruptly in a way anyone else might notice.

His was really only a matter of time before his luck there ran out.

The white floors bucked beneath him as he walked, swaying and dipping like a ship tossed in a storm. The world through the identical windows was black and roiling, filled with debris and unidentifiable bodies.

"Audrey!" Duke shouted. "Audrey, we're going down! We have to abandon ship!"

A flash of blonde, darting through a doorway. Duke dashed after her, but every time he turned a corner she was just up ahead, vanishing around another one.

"Audrey! Audrey!!"

He couldn't catch up. He couldn't get his legs to work properly. The floor pitched up violently then dropped, and Duke fell --

He surfaced by a rocky beach, and fought his way to land, sprawling out to catch his breath. His limbs still weren't working properly, and there was noise all around, explosions and screams clogging the air like dust. He choked on it, drowning, until a hand appeared in front of his face. Duke took it and let it help him stand, only noticing once he found his feet that it was coated in blood.

Nathan smiled, his teeth red. His face was red, his jacket soaked through. His eyes were cloudy and dead.

"Did you really think you could leave it behind?" he asked.

Duke snatched his hand away, panting, and watched as the blood vanished into him. As Nathan vanished into him. "No." He choked on the word. "No --"

"It's how it always had to be," a voice said, coming from everywhere. Duke spun. It was Vince, it was Lucifer. It was Dwight and Gloria and Claire and Danny and Rey. They stood all around him, bloody and scorched and dead, and Audrey, they were all variations on the theme of Audrey, like Lucy and Sarah and dozens of others, stretching back into eternity.

"Did you really think it wouldn't follow you?" they asked.

A scream across the sky, and Duke looked up. The meteor storm. It was crashing all around, smashing through the school, through the Gull, through the Devil's Nest and Luke's and every place he'd ever felt he belonged. And one came hurtling down at the beach, straight for the sand, straight for Duke, he could feel the heat as it burned through the atmosphere, could feel his clothing burning away --

He woke with an abbreviated cry, an explosion rattling the inside of his head. He lay where he was for a moment, panting and choking on his too-rapid breaths, staring at the slice of sky visible from his spot in Lucifer's bed.

It was glowing red with the sunrise, and for a long moment, still stuck in the dream, Duke was convinced it was fire. That the meteors had come to Fandom, and everything was burning. . . .

[for those in the bed -- or the house -- with him!]

Comments

[okteiviakom]

Octavia let go of Duke's hand to wrap her arms around him, instead. In fact, it was the hand that had held his that now gently, slowly brushed up and down over his hair.

Her tiny hum was either meant to soothe, or to acknowledge what Lucifer had said. Or it was a reaction to the small bit of comfort she derived from his embrace.

Probably all three, actually.

[betterthanaplan]

Duke curled into both of them, finally daring to let his eyes close.

Though not for long. The image of the meteor hurtling at his head was hard to shake.

"Feel like I'm like five."

[my_own_advocate]

"You're much less annoying than a five-year-old would be," Lucifer assured him, dropping his face against Octavia's shoulder.

[okteiviakom]

"You had a tough night," Octavia muttered, quiet and soft. "It's okay."

[betterthanaplan]

Duke pulled back just far enough to see her face. She hadn't been in the crowd in his dream, the doomed, intoning friends on the beach, and thus didn't set off quite the same spasm in his chest as looking at Lucifer right now might, however much he appreciated the other man for getting him off the floor of the master bedroom.

"Sun's rising," he said after a moment. "Looked like the world was on fire."

[my_own_advocate]

Thank you for the earworm, Duke.

Lucifer let out a sigh.

He chose not to comment.

[okteiviakom]

"It's not," Octavia said. She knew he knew that, but this seemed like a time to reassuringly state the obvious. And she was watching him back, tired and earnest. "I would know."

Well, she would.

[betterthanaplan]

"You would," Duke agreed softly. "It was the meteors. In the dream. Waking up from that and seeing the sky. . . ."

[my_own_advocate]

"Well, no actual meteors here," Lucifer said. "Trust me. We'd hear about it."

[okteiviakom]

Octavia was still petting the back of Duke's head. She nodded.

"En's ku, sofon."

And she understood, she really did. You didn't meet Praimfaya and not think it could be coming back for you.

[betterthanaplan]

“I know,” Duke said. “Just — explaining what happened.”

[my_own_advocate]

Lucifer let out a breath, watching him. "I should've brought some drinks," he muttered, largely to himself, "It's too early to be without my morning whiskey.

[okteiviakom]

Octavia's fingers pushed further into Duke's hair. She was watching his face, taking in the details. The details where his face wore his stress.

"You know, we didn't see Praimfaya sweep over Polis, when it hit," she said in a low, mild rasp, after a moment. "We just heard the city falling apart above us. And even before I found out the tower had crashed on top of our only exit, I would have... so many dreams about just the sound."

Well, they'd been nightmares, at first. But not always. She knew not to refer to that directly right now, though.

"Sometimes, I would wake up and I would be convinced it was happening again. Like I'd just heard it for real."

And that was without any outside help, like his red sky.

[betterthanaplan]

"In the dream, they'd followed me," Duke said softly. "I'd brought them here, to Fandom." He looked up towards Lucifer, tossing him a weak smile. "I kind of wish you'd brought drinks along too."

[my_own_advocate]

"Perhaps in a minute," Lucifer said.

He might not have a lot to contribute to this particular conversation, but he also didn't want to just... leave them alone.

[okteiviakom]

Octavia wasn't touching the topic of the drinks.

Her hand brushed from Duke's hair down to his neck, then his cheek.

[betterthanaplan]

Duke reached over and held onto Lucifer’s arm.

“Didn’t mean you had to leave,” he said. “You’re part of this security blanket too.”

[my_own_advocate]

"All right," Lucifer said, after a moment. He met Duke's eyes. "If you're sure."

[okteiviakom]

"Wish the two of you weren't so quick to go for the booze anyway," Octavia said with a little sigh. Sounded idle, like an afterthought.

Just another sign of how exhausted she still was right below the surface.

[betterthanaplan]

"You do?" Duke asked. "You've never said."

[my_own_advocate]

"It's not like I actually get drunk," Lucifer pointed out.

[okteiviakom]

Octavia shook her head, looking off to the side.

"It's fine. Doesn't matter."

[betterthanaplan]

"It does if it bothers you," Duke said.

[my_own_advocate]

Lucifer let out an annoyed sigh. "Can we please have this conversation at a less emotionally exhausting time?"

Because he was the most fine person in this room, and even he was too tired to deal with these two people 'it doesn't matter'/'yes it does if you care'/'no it doesn't'-ing each other into oblivion.

[okteiviakom]

Octavia had already opened her mouth for a 'we don't have to talk about it right now', so...

Now she just closed it, instead.