Literal Nightmares

[Nox]

After Jensen left it was a good bit before anyone actually stopped in to check on him.  Boredom set in and Nox drifted on the medication still entering his system through the IV. It wasn't a pleasant feeling and he wasn't enjoying lying there doing nothing.  Even his wallet wasn't entertaining -- he needed to do something.

Getting out of bed hurt like hell.  His body was healed but the scars that remained from the prior healings by the girl were still taunt and dense.  Everything about them was wrong, from the way they looked to the way they felt.  His side hurt.  His legs and arms hurt.  But not from the post healing.  Nox stretched each place realizing he was going to have to go back to the basics.  A lot more yoga, and strength training and a lot less of his other things -- except his mind was still sharp.  Though he was fading with the medication running through his veins still.

By the time a nurse finally came into check on him, Nox was seeing things in the shadows.  A pair of glowing eyes stared back at him and beckoned him to follow.  The nurse was in a flurry calling the doctor. "Doctor, the fever is gone.  The ultrasound is clear."

"Can I go now?" Nox interrupted.

They hushed him and started looking through his records, and such and spoke in hushed tones.  "At least stop the medication." Nox said, trying to get things situated.

They rushed out of the room disconnecting the IV from his arm. "Stay in bed, a little while longer." the nurse instructed Nox.

But he didn't listen.  The shadow beckoned him to follow when he was alone.  There were worse things to do.  He reached into the sticky slime of the horde and grabbed the power.  He at least had a weapon to protect himself from wherever this nightmare was taking him.  If he were seeing it at all.  Nightmares were hard to see, harder to kill and Nox had never been beckoned by a monster to follow it before.  Where was it taking him?

[Nox]

No one else seemed to notice the shadow as it lurked in the corners. It made Nox curious as to its visibility. Was he going crazy? Had the healing done more than take the infection? His mind maybe? He chuckled at the thought of it.

They wound through the corridors of the hospital. No one really bothering with the half naked man wandering the halls with nothing more than the gown over his shoulders. He didn't much mind, and it seemed common enough place.

The shadow didn't go in a straight line, and it sometimes disappeared altogether and Nox had to find it somewhere else down the long halls. Up. Down. Through. And finally in snaked its way through a locked door.

[Nox]

Of course it was that ward. The one ward he could very easily get into but getting out could be very hard. He wasn't crazy, but his whole life fit into one of their diagnosis he was certain. But Nox didn't hesitate as he glanced through the small rectangular window and saw the shadow creeping about -- waiting for him.

Nox took a deep breath and placed his hand on the door and delved into the lock and used the power of the gods to force entrance. There was no alarm, it was like using a key. Access might be monitored, and that might flag some bad attention. But that was for later. Right now he was hunting a monster. Though he didn' actually want to hurt it. It hadn't done anything. And if it were a nightmare well they never tried to kill him. At least there was that small mercy. Even in his nightmares he survived where as those he loved did not. Which tore at his heart more so than not.

Nox slipped in without notice. And walking around seemed less that ideal, but he heard people in a room near by and glanced inside. If he could only master an illusion while walking -- he could be nearly invisible. But that was beyond his scope. He could maintain the illusion if it wasn't about obsure him. The other was a completely different type of illusion.

The room was full of patients. Some were painting, others watching TV. Some were even just staring off into space watching whatever played out in the mind. Some talked to nothing, and others played games. But it was the dark shadows that kept his eyes as he followed it to a petite woman sitting in a chair. He stepped through like he belonged, he wasn't dressed much different than the others -- it would be easy to be mistaken. Except he wasn't supposed to be here and his name tag on his wrist said so. He at least had that going for him. He wasn't stealing away time or anything. It wasn't really a B and E.

He sat down across from the girl with the shadow slipping in next to her, hiding in the shadows but clearly there if anyone really looked. Maybe it was a trick of the eye -- maybe not. Nox didn't understand the way nightmares worked. He smiled at her and nodded towards the shadow curled up next to her. "I supposed your nightmares like you." He hoped she didn't think he was crazy. But she was in here so it was probably common place.