[5.3] The Dream Below

"Something bad?" Teru echoed Keina's sentiments.

What was the Host of the Dream sensing underneath them that was putting her on this high alert?

Was the Nightmare Keina actually trying to lead them somewhere dangerous?

"Do you want to go back then?" Teru suggested. "One of these buildings could probably take us back to Keinaland, and we can report this to Yumeppo."

Keina closed her eyes, silently in thought, as cherry blossoms that populated the cafe dream blew in their direction.

She then answered, unwavering and resolute.

"No.

"It's something bad. But it's the kind of bad that I can't walk away from. Not right now."

Her eyes trailed from Teru to the stairs below.

"I'm sure Yumeppo will find us soon. But... if Nightmare me was trying to lead us here, then I think we have to go down, and see what she's been trying to show us.

"No matter how bad it is.

"...If that makes sense?" Her voice tried to lighten up a bit.

It was Teru's turn to pause.

For the first time in these dreams, he felt something foreboding, like there were actual stakes.

 Keina must have been feeling the same.

And yet, it was just like her not to shy away from what lay beyond.

He clenched his fists and took a deep breath before looking back at Keina, stretching out his hand.

"Okay. But I'm with you."

Keina took his hand in hers and smiled at him. "I'm with you, too, Teru.

"Let's go."

The dream that held Cafe Sil didn't extend beyond the stairs to the station.

Like a fake entrance in a game that was meant to transition to the actual map.

The staircase they came down vanished as they trekked further inside, the flooring and walls giving way to just pure darkness.

It resembled the darkness that surrounded Keina's castle when no dreams were active, but it lacked the dusty tones of chalk. It was the type of dark that was pitch black, that absorbed all light and obscured all shapes.

The only thing emitting light in this space was a large door in front of them, which was unlike any other they've come across in the past.

The gate looked ancient, black as obsidian with white highlights. It stood on its own, connected to nothing and ominously glowing with fog emanating from its frame.

The side that faced them had an image etched onto it from top to bottom that almost resembled a large ribbon.

"Alright..." He said as they walked up to the ribboned gate, both placing their hands on it. "On the count of three?"

Keina nodded. "Whenever you're ready."

"One..."

"Two..."

"Three!"

With a push, the doors opened, and they made it inside.

---

"This place feels familiar," Keina remarked, her eyes scanning the surroundings.

Despite the unnerving build-up, the place that awaited them beyond the gate turned out to be a continuation of the subway.

At least, a very incomplete, fragmented one.

Patches of a simulated reality were missing, filled in with the pure black darkness from before. Unlike the other dreams where it attempted to fill the void as coherently as it could, this space didn't bother and kept everything in pieces.

The most intact parts were the straight line of the ceramic that they were on, and the ticket gate ahead.

It almost looked like a floating platform, with how disconnected it was from the rest of the station through the splotches.

Most of all, though, was that the whimsy and vibrant air that permeated every other part of Keina's dream was absent. It felt absent. Everything felt muted and faded, with a consistent haze throughout.

Keina suddenly put her hand on her head as she flashed a look of grimace.

"Are you okay?" Teru immediately went to steady her.

"Yeah, I'm fine," Keina assured, not sounding pained. "It was just a surprise flash of... something."

She took a step forward.

"I feel like... I've been here before." She looked back at Teru.

"Before I started this dream."

Keina's eyes suddenly widened.

"My dad... I think I came here to see my dad, and—"

BANG! BANG!

Teru tried to instinctively jump in front of Keina as screams suddenly erupted all around them. But she beat him to it, doing the same for him, arms spread wide.

"What was that?!" He yelled, fighting the urge to panic as the screams kept persisting omnidirectionally. The movement of shadows intensified around them like a wave, flowing away from the double bangs.

"It came from over there!" She motioned to the sight in front of them, on the other side of the ticket gate.

A shadowy figure stood in front of a staircase, pointing down at a fragmented patch of darkness that was missing from the space.

It wasn't the Nightmare Keina. The vague shape through all the darkness surrounding it looked too masculine. And he could tell from a glance.

It was dangerous.

Teru slowly backed away, goosebumps everywhere as his eyes remained locked onto the shadow that was not paying them any heed, shouting something staticky and incomprehensible at where it was pointing.

But Keina was leaning forward, her heel slightly off the ground.

She tried to bolt off towards the shadow. But Teru caught her arm.

"Keina, don't!" He tightly held her. "We need to get out of here, now!"

"Let go, Teru!" She yanked hard. "He's going to—!"

"KEINA!"

A desperate cry rang out as they were both dragged away from the scene, their feet both off the ground.

All belonging to one blue tapir, holding onto each of their shoulders to get them to safety.

---

Yumeppo carried them all the way back to the balcony on Keina Castle. The real one, surrounded by the more comforting chalky darkness of Keina's dream.

"You saved us." Teru tried to start, but Yumeppo completely ignored him.

"Keina! Are you hurt?!" Yumeppo frantically hovered around her and held her close. Not in a cute way.

"What happened?!" His voice was consumed with fear.

"I-I'm fine, Yumeppo." Keina just quietly replied, evidently shaken.

"We saw that Nightmare again." Teru started explaining. "The same one from the aquarium! We chased after it, and it took us down there where—"

"Why..." Yumeppo cut him off, his little arms trembling.

Before he flew right up to Teru, pulling him by the collar of his shirt and screaming right in his face.

"WHY DIDN'T YOU TAKE THE DAMN HINT, KASUGA?!"

"Y-Yumeppo?" Teru couldn't find any strength in his voice as Yumeppo continued tearing into him.

"When I told you it was a figment of your imagination, you should have left it at that and ignored it!"

"Why?!" He tried to argue back. "It clearly wasn't—"

"Because look what happened!" He furiously pointed to Keina. "That's why!"

"Yumeppo, stop." Keina tried to step in as she regained some strength. "I was the one who wanted to go in there. There's something in there that—"

"No, there's not! There's nothing!" Yumeppo turned back to her, not having any of it. "There is absolutely NOTHING good about that place! You understand me?!"

He looked down, whispering.

"I knew it was a mistake." 

"I wanted to believe it so badly. In these dream dates, letting her get close to you." He spat out that last word with venom as he glared at Teru.

"That if I just kept things fun, joked around with you, she'd wake up again..." His shaking intensified.

"All this time... only for you... to turn around and do this to her!" Yumeppo suddenly roared.

"Yumeppo..." Teru could only muster one word. He wasn't sure what he could say to calm him down.

"...Get out."

...What?

"GET OUT!" 

Yumeppo yanked him, dragging him across the balcony floor.

"Yumeppo, stop!" Keina commanded.

But it was too late. 

With strength defying his small body, Yumeppo lifted Teru by his collar and dangled him over the edge of Keina's Castle.

"Don't you ever come anywhere near her, ever again!"

Those were the last words Teru heard before Yumeppo let go, sending him plummeting into the moat below.

"TERU!"

Keina, leaning over, extending her hand out, the most frightened he had ever seen her—that was the last sight Teru saw before he woke up back in his bed, breaking out in cold sweat.

A return to reality that felt final.

And for the next few days, Teru did not dream a single time.