(Coryxkenshin posted SSS on a Sunday before yall got another Penacony chapter 💀)

(Anyways, I had to lock in for my love(s) Mydei *Phainon and Anaxa*)

Caelus screamed, Firefly forcing him to duck as the Cocaine Dragon lunged at them. It went right past y/n, who was understandably pissed, but failed to get very far.

Right before it could reach the little love birds, some damn roots surged from the ground and grabbed the damn thing by its tail, dragging it back and away from the duo and towards the waiting y/n.

"Now where the hell do you think you're going?" y/n demanded, her fist slamming into the poor creature's face when the roots flung it at her.

Caelus' jaw dropped—Firefly carefully helping him pick it back up—as the creature went skidding across the floor, a horrible screeching noise filling the room as it dug its claws into the floor to keep it from going too far.

"She punched it! Oh my god, she punched it!"

"Yes, Caelus. She punched it."

Y/n glanced back at the pair, Caelus frantically stepping in front of Firefly in case his friend was going to go bat💩 again, but she didn't attack.

Instead, she scoffed and turned back to the creature as it got up again, "If you're not going to fight, stay out of the way—if youre going to be useless, I'll cut you up too."

"No, no no no, I can help!" Caelus squeaked, whipping out his bat and rushing to y/n's side. As the Cocaine Dragon was staggering back to its feet, it caught sight of some pretty little flowers blooming— OH GOD THEY HAD TEETH.

The pretty little blooms suddenly sprouted a bunch of a teeth and actually LUNGED at the poor Cocaine Dragon, latching onto the eyes along its body and biting down hard.

The thing screeched, but immediately got smacked over the snout by Caelus. It looked to bite him next, but faltered a bit at the look of pure fear in the hydrogen bomb's eyes. Not towards the cocaine addict, but rather the eldritch horror that was jumping it along with the poor grey haired WMD.

"I'm sorry," Caelus's eyes seemed to say as he beat the creature over the head with his bat, "You're scary, but this crazy ♀🐶 is scarier. It's either you or me,"

"I understand," the Cocaine Dragon's many, creepy eyes seemed to echo back, "Do what needs to be done."

Firefly watched silently as Caelus beat the Cocaine Dragon with his bat, some random 🍑 roots keeping the thing still while y/n was shanking it with that sword she shouldn't even have.

The Cocaine Dragon let out a scream, its tail lashing in an attempt to stab the two trailblazers who easily evaded it. Caelus prepared to dart right back into battle but was shoved to the ground by y/n, the young man yelping as he smacked against the floor while y/n blitzed the creature.

Its razor sharp wings sliced through the air as it tried to back up, but y/n was not having it. She closed the distance in an instant, a mere blur as she pierced her sword through one of the creature's eyes.

Once more, it let out an ear piercing shriek as it violently shook its head in a desperate attempt to toss y/n off with little luck. Her sword was gouged pretty deep, and she had zero intentions on letting it go.

In a desperate attempt, it rampaged around the room—slamming its face against the walls and the floors to try and knock y/n off. Caelus damn near got whacked by its tail, but Firefly knocked his dumb 🍑 out of the way in time only to get hit instead. Rather than throwing her like ragdoll, it used her to knock y/n off, grabbing the BOTH of them in its big 🍑 claws while they were stunned.

"Hey, overgrown lizard, that's some dirty play!" Caelus snapped before screaming like a little girl when it smacked him into a pile of televisions.

Firefly and Y/n, now both trapped in its very unforgiving claws, had two very different reactions to being snatched. Firefly looked a little apprehensive, but way too calm at the same time—like she was about to whip out a minigun or something. Y/n, on the other hand, was clawing at the thing's little hand and fighting to get free.

Before the crash out and Firefly could pop off, there were shimmering lights emerging from the floor. Suddenly, hands made of some sort of glass emerged and snatched up the Cocaine Dragon, forcing it to drop the two ladies who would've hit the ground rather hard—had it not been for the roots that emerged to catch them before they could smack against the floor.

As the pair were eased to the floor, y/n dusting herself off while the hands made of roots helped get the frazzled Firefly settled. Caelus, pain forgotten, rushed to the pair to check on them with a, "Are you two alright? Are you hurt? Do you need first aid—cause I don't have any stuff to heal right now-!"

"I'm fine, Caelus, calm down," Firefly assured the trailblazer while y/n glanced over to some TVs where a woman sat. Very lavender toned... interesting fit.

"If you don't know the right technique, you might never return from the shadow of death. Emerging without a scratch." the woman hummed, her gaze locked on the Cocaine Dragon as it freed itself from the glass*or perhaps ice* that had slammed it against the ceiling.

It floated on down, facing the small group again as Firefly helped the very unsteady Caelus remain on his feet. Y/n gave him a once over, well-  Caelus assumed that she was since she was facing his direction. He couldn't tell what she was looking at with those goddamn wooden tendrils over her eyes. After a moment, she pointed at him, "You're unfit to fight right now. Sit to the side."

"Huh!?" Caelus demanded, but y/n didn't offer him any time to argue as she glanced at the strange lavender lady with the veil. "Am I killing two strangers today, or are you here to help?"

The strange woman tilted her head, regarding y/n with an interesting look on her face, "Just one, I'm on your side. You may call me the Memokeeper, Black Swan."

Caelus sniffled, 'I want her to look at me like that...'

Y/n heaved a small sigh, turning to face the Cocaine Dragon once more as it lunged at her. Whatever she had planned on saying, she quickly abandoned it as she grabbed the thing by one of its claw-like tusks, slinging it like a ragdoll with wayyyy too little effort to interrupt its path towards her companions and temporary ally. It let out a screech, backing off into a cloud of dark haze before emerging to strike y/n with that lethal looking tail, only for the women to easily parry with her blade and deliver a painful looking slash along its under belly.

The creature screamed, the noise being cut short as the floor cracked and gave way to allow thick winding roots to emerge. They grew with unnatural haste, forming a fist that clocked the creature over the head so hard, it cracked the ground when it made impact.

Its lashing tail sent sharp barbs hurtling towards y/n all of which were ducked and weaved past, save for one that she caught and used like some sort of throwing knife to clock the thing in its main eye.

"Um, Miss Black Swan— is there a way we can avoid prolonging this fight?" Caelus inquired as y/n and the Cocaine Dragon duked it out a few feet away—wincing when the creature whacked y/n over the head with a TV only for her to sucker punch it and send it flying into a wall, "I feel like the more time she spends fighting, the less safe I am."

"It would be best to get you all to safety... alright, you can leave this to me," Black Swan hummed, materializing a tarot card of sorts out of nowhere. It had a radiant glow to it, one that intensified right as an unseen force slammed the creature to the ground right in front of her.

She raised her sword to finish the job, but was interrupted when Caelus snatched her up, "HEY! What do you think you're—?!"

"Time to go!" Caelus announced as Black Swan tossed another card which created a whirling portal of sorts near the wall. "Hurry." was all she said to them, but they didn't need to be told twice. Firefly grabbed Caelus by his free wrist and the pair of them ran, taking a furious y/n along with them as they fled in the portal and were cast into darkness.

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"Hey, sleepy head. It's time to wake up."

Y/n couldn't move. There was nothing holding her down, just that empty field of luscious grass and hundreds of thousands of stars winking and glittering in the night sky above.

"Brother...? Is that you?" she mumbled.

"Come on, get up already. You can't just stay there."

"But I'm tired... let me rest a little longer?"

"Alright, just a while longer."

Y/n let out a quiet exhale, shutting her eyes once more as her brother's voice said something else. She didn't catch much, only a few bits of it.

"...must wake soon... can't dream forever."

. 　。　　⋆　　•　 　ﾟ　　。 .　.　.　。 .　。
⋆　　　。　　 ⋆。　 ඞ 。　 . • . . ⁎ 。　. 　。　.　　⋆. 　　。 .　 .　　 . ⋆. 。. ⁎ 。•　 　ﾟ　　。

"HOLY MARY MOTHER OF— 🚚ING HELL!"

Caelus awoke kicking and screeching, smacking his head against the side of the tub as he sent water flying everywhere. He sat up with a groan, clutching the spot where he'd hit his head as he slowly came to.

Where was he? Who was he? Damn it, did he fall asleep reading a script again—

His scrambling thoughts screeched to a halt when he realized he wasn't alone in the room. That woman from before, Black Swan, stood just by the weird bath and was watching him. ...how long had she been there?

"You're awake, lazy bug." the Memokeeper hummed, "Looks like you had a nice dream. Did you dream of me?"

"Uh... I think so..." Caelus mumbled as he clambered out of the bath, "You saved us, thanks a ton... I feel like y/n would've turned around and attacked Firefly and I instead right after she killed whatever that thing was. Speaking of which, where are the two of them? Oh—and where the hell am I?"

"Saved you? Ah, I didn't do much. Just helped you leave the Memory Zone, that's all. Welcome back to reality—or rather The Reverie."  Black Swan replied with a little smile, "It's good to see you've kept your wits and that you weren't affected by the Primal Dreamscape. As for your friend, the one with the e/c eyes, she's in her room resting."

"What a relief— I have more questions, though—" Caelus began but the woman gently shushed him, placing her finger against his lips.

"I'll answer your questions, I know you have many, but you should let your friends know you're safe first." she advised gently. Caelus stood there, brain rebooting before his face flushed and he nodded.

"Right! I'll go do that!" with that, he skedaddled down the hall to y/n's room and knocked, "Yoo-hoo, y/nnn... you awake?"

No response.

Caelus shrugged, then moved to open the door. The door didn't really feel like opening—rather something on the other side was keeping it firmly shut, and not even Caelus's raging muscles could get it open. How strange...

"Y/n? Are you good in there?" he called.

Still no response.

Hmm...

"Okay! Coming in!" he announced, taking his lance and busting a hole in the door. He reached through to open the door from the other side, unlocking the door and inviting himself on in, "Geez, you're sleeping like a rock, aren't you? Come on, it's time to get up— HOLY 💩."

The trailblazer jolted, eyes widening as he laid eyes on the complete MESS that y/n's room had become. Plants... plants everywhere! Taking all kinds of scary 🍑 shapes— were those people?! Caelus scanned the room, finding that roots had overtaken basically everything else.

Following their paths, they all converged at the back of the room where the bath should've been. In its place was the thick trunk of a tree, its branch shimmering with golden leaves. Little Mimi sat contentedly on one of the large roots spilling over the side of the barely visible tub, the little plush seeming to greet the mortified hydrogen bomb with its plush face.

Caelus hesitantly approached, carefully not to step on the very alive looking roots on the ground. The tree's trunk looked strange, glowing lines etched across it in a district pattern that was familiar. He'd seen it before, somewhere on the Luofu... his raccoon brain remembered seeing it sometime before the fight against Phantylia, but after Tingyun—the fake Tingyun's neck snapped.

He'd been too busy looking for trash to lay much mind, so he struggled to recall, but that wasn't the point. He felt a little ill, the same kinda ill he got when he ate that give Dan Shu had prepared for him, and it only got worse the closer he got to that damned tree. But Mimi was there— so y/n had to be there too.

He barely got halfway across the room before there was this horrifying ripping noise, like flesh and bone being broken and restored at an unnatural speed. He glanced down, and his blood turned to ice as the sight of an eye staring up at him from one of the roots. It was just one eye, with black sclera and red pupils that bore into his soul... but then another one sprouted. And another.

He watched the path of sprouting eyes as they spread to the roots on the walls. Soon, the entire room had eyes, staring at him. Why were they staring? Hell if he knew, he didn't like it at all! He needed to get out of there, he needed to get y/n out of there!

Caelus opened his mouth to shout y/n's name, beginning to rush to the tub, only to trip and take a little tumble with a yelp. In an instant, the plant and eye infected room was normal. Everything was in place, nothing was disturbed, and a bleary looking y/n was standing by the tub and staring at him where he was sprawled on the ground.

Y/n blinked once, "Caelus. What are you doing?"

Caelus blinked back, giving her a once over. She looked normal. Well, with clothes on she looked normal. He pointed a finger at her, "Shirt! Off! Now!"

The woman jolted, "What the hell?!" she eyed Caelus with a concerned look as he hopped to his feet frantically, "What are you going on about? Do you have a concussion? I know it was in the Dreamscape, but that Cocaine Dragon hit you pretty hard."

"No— I'm fine— mostly. Dan Heng told me to check your back for leaves! I just saw some really scary 💩 in here, and all of a sudden it's gone— but now I'm really freaking out, so let me check for leaves!"

Y/n scrutinized him in silence before patting his shoulder and turning away, "I'm alright, Caelus. I appreciate the concern, though. Come on, let's go to the lobby. You'll feel better after seeing Miss Himeko and Mr. Yang."

With that, she made her way out of the room with Mimi in tow. Okay, so clearly she hadn't seen was Caelus saw. He gave her little seashell tub one last worried look, not at all liking how the screen behind it flickered and glitched a bit to reveal those same piercing red eyes from before. It quickly went back to normal, right in time for y/n to pause at the door and look back at Caelus.

"Hey, you coming or not?" she demanded.

The young man stared at the screen for a while long, scanning the room for any sign of the horrifying scene he'd witness before, but all seemed normal.

"Y-Yeah, let's go." he mumbled, hurrying to join y/n so the two of them could make their way to the lobby. They found Black Swan in the hall, the woman accompanying them as they strolled. While y/n properly introduced herself to Black Swan, Caelus was in deep thought.

He wasn't sure of the nature of what he saw, but he knew that he'd seen it and it had been there. He hadn't imagined the sick feeling, he hadn't imagined the roots, he hadn't imagined the eyes STARING at him.

'To be honest, everything I felt in that moment feels a whole lot more real than this... maybe it's because I'm not scared 💩less anymore...' he thought as they made their way into the lobby, finding March 7th, Himeko, and Welt waiting for them.

"Look, Miss Himeko, I bought these two back. As promised," Black Swan announced, gesturing to the pensive looking Caelus and the too normal y/n.

The hydrogen bomb gave her a side eyed, carefully analyzing her appearance. She didn't look agitated like she had earlier— a little more solemn than anything. No sign of Ticking Time Bomb Y/n. That was good.

'And yet I feel off,' Caelus thought with a small sigh, 'Okay, it's decided, no more taking food from strangers.'

"We were looking for the two of you everywhere! Thank goodness you're alright, we were worried about you!" March's voice drew his attention back to the present, the pink haired menace giving the pair a look that seemed caught between relief and irritation.

"Sorry, Caelus was on a date." y/n announced with a ghost of a smirk on her face, "He met a cute lady who seemed to really like hanging out with him."

"Huh?! Really?!" March demanded, looking to Caelus for clarification. Oh no this lady didn't— no way was he just gonna let her get away with this!

"Mhm, it was actually a double date." Caelus declared, "Y/n was cheating on her hubby, so we joined her and her lover to supervise."

Y/n's happy little look faded as she fixed Caelus with a blank stare, "Don't go telling lies, Caelus."

Caelus returned her look with a blank one of his own, "Don't tell lies about me and I won't tell truths about you."

Their state off was interrupted as Himeko pat them both on their shoulders with a sweet smile, "I'm glad to see you two are unharmed and well enough to tease each other. Allow me to introduce you to Black Swan, Memokeeper of the Garden of Recollection."

"You and Miss Himeko are acquainted?" y/n asked hesitantly, giving Black Swan a guarded stare to which the woman let out a soft chuckle.

"Yeah, Miss Himeko said they were investigating the incidents happening in the Dreamscape," March chimed in.

"We've only met once," Black Swan added, "But, thanks to you, we might be able to use this opportunity to get to know each other a little bit better."

Caelus was too busy overthinking what he saw to get flustered, but y/n shuffled closer to her trailblazing companions with a wary look. Black Swan ket out a quiet giggle, a warm smile on her face. While she didn't say it out loud, the look on y/n's face reminded her of a shy kitten hiding under furniture or around corners.

"Caelus, y/n, how did you end up in that place. And what the heck happened there?" Himeko inquired right as Caelus snapped himself out of the whirlwind of thoughts he'd been caught in.

"Oh, well, I think y/n and I got there in two completely different ways, we'll both have to explain..." Caelus began before giving y/n an awkward grin, "Ladies first?"

"No thanks." she immediately looked away, Caelus letting out a low groan before finally facing his companions.

"Alright, so it's like this..."

(Mydei and Phainon are so fine but GNAEUS. Bro, I NEED NEED NEED NEED NEED more of Gnaeus, he's such a bad🍑. MAKE HIM PLAYABLE)

(Also, Castorice— I've got plans 👀)