Aaaand she knows my name.
Alarm bells rang out in Ciel’s head, but he tried not to let it show.
At the very least, she could speak.
Communication was the key to peaceful outcomes.
After hesitating for a moment he quietly muttered, “it’s Drake, not Aster.”
The figure paused for a moment, looking at him deeply, as if searching inside of him.
Ciel began to squirm slightly under that intense gaze.
The shifting facial features did not help to ease the eeriness of her gaze.
“Is it now?” she asked as she began to inch closer to him.
Ciel stepped back, not responding.
A flicker of emotion flashed through their face, which shouldn’t have been possible considering the ever shifting nature of her features.
In an instant it was gone.
The figure turned and calmly retrieved an item from the nightstand.
It was a silver circular mirror.
“Sorry, it’s probably giving you a headache to see me like this.”
As she grabbed the mirror, her features stopped their constant shifting and finally merged together.
Her hair was lengthened and became white, as if losing all of its color.
Her face no longer held definite features, instead looking like a mesh of similar faces of a young woman.
There were still no defining traits, but at least the transforming had stopped.
Ciel quickly honed in on the mirror’s ability, associating it with his own clock.
“Do I look like that too?”
The young woman looked at Ciel for a moment, as if still searching for something.
She extended her hand, holding the mirror.
“See for yourself.”
Gazing at the mirror, Ciel’s shocked expression looked back at him.
His hair had darkened, becoming pitch black.
Even his once clear grey eyes had darkened immensely, to the point of being almost black.
His face was now unrecognizable, only slightly resembling someone like him.
Intrigued, Ciel asked, “So, what is this place?”
“A dream”
Very helpful.
“How did you get here?”
“By sleeping. Do you not know what dreams are?”
Ciel clenched his jaw.
These are the best answers you can get right now.” she said calmly with a shrug, as if it was the most natural and acceptable reason.
Well, Ciel couldn’t accept it.
“If you don’t have anything helpful to say, then I’ll go find things out myself.” He said flatly.
He turned to leave, secretly hoping that this would finally make her talk and give him any clues about his situation.
Unfortunately, The woman made no move to speak further, simply watching him walk to the doorway.
Disappointed, he once again passed through the murky grey barrier.
The rush of voices reverberated around him, drowning out all noise.
On the other side he was met with the calm stiff ambience that permeated through the seemingly infinite hallway.
Before he could decide what door to go through next, he heard a voice directly behind him “Do you ever get the feeling you’re being watched in here?”
Instinctively, Ciel leapt away, quickly covering ground and creating a gap from where he once stood.
Looking back, he saw the same young woman standing there, looking at him.
Alarmed, Ciel stared warily at her.
She stared right back, as if expecting an answer.
After gaining his bearings, he said weakly, “Maybe it’s because you’re the one watching me.
The woman shook her head, “No, because that doesn’t explain why I feel it too.” She then walked past him, into the vast hallway without another word.
With a sigh, Ciel followed behind.
After a few seconds he settled on asking, “If you don’t want to talk about this place, then who are you?”
She paused for a while, before responding flatly, “You can call me Ferry.”
Fairy?
Like those bug things?
Before Ciel could ask, Ferry continued.
“Also, I can speak about this place, just not in that first room.
“Really? So, what is this place?”
“It really is a dream. I didn’t lie before” she replied with a twinge of annoyance.
“And I’m no different from you really, but I’m willing to share what I have found out.”
During their conversation, they passed many doors, which had almost all been closed.
However those that were slightly open were covered in the same grey barrier-like substance that kept all their interiors hidden.
Because of this, Ciel had stopped really looking at them and instead put his full focus on Ferry’s information.
“That first room, it doesn’t change as far as I know. Clearly unstable, impossible to navigate, at least without this.” She held up her silver mirror for Ciel, before continuing.
“I think of it like a stabilizer, although I don’t know how it actually works. Regardless, it’s good to have around.”
Ferry stopped suddenly in front of a closed red door with swirling symbols adorning the center.
Ciel watched from behind with interest.
Unsurprisingly, it was locked, and she quickly moved on and kept walking.
“The first room doesn’t seem to have anything else of note, although I haven’t checked too extensively. What’s really interesting is this hallway.”
“There’s no end in sight,” Ciel observed.
Ferry nodded, “Just an infinite number of doors. In a random order that changes each time you enter, meaning you can never enter the same door twice. Returning is an even bigger mess.”
Ferry stopped again in front of a door, seemingly etched from obsidian, looking as impassible as the rest of them.
“Also, if you ever see a doorway with no door, never go in there. They’re the only places without the grey fog. There’s a reason they’re different, and it’s better not to find out.”
Ciel hadn’t seen any doorways matching this description, so he didn’t think much of it.
His more pressing concern was figuring out if this individual could be trusted at all.
Warily keeping his distance, he watched her press against the dark door.
Ferry reached out and pulled, but once again, the door refused to budge.
For some reason, she continued to try to open it again and again, as if one more attempt would break the deadlock.
After watching her for a while with a puzzled look on his face, Ciel decided to look around and check the other doors.
Directly across from the black door was an ornately designed purple door, exuding royalty, next to it was a metal white door, with bolts clearly visible down the middle.
Both were closed, so Ciel glanced at the next door.
He was surprised to see that the door was wide open.
It wasn’t the first door to be open, but this was the farthest open he had seen it.
The door itself was a dark red, almost blood-like color.
Seeing Ferry still struggling with the door, Ciel made his way closer to this strange open door.
He was surprised to find that the gray substance was no longer grey.
It somehow looked heavier, and now had some color to it.
Feeling a sense of familiarity and alienation at the same time, he stared intently at the scene.
His eyes could not discern a recognizable pattern but an image appeared in his mind.
It showed a roughly 1.7 meter tall female frame, wearing a pristine white uniform, emblazoned with gold highlights.
Her long wavy brown hair fell down naturally behind her.
Ciel’s face darkened.
It was Aurore!
She was in his dream!
This was the first time he had encountered anyone or anything familiar, and she happened to appear in the grey substance that was anything but familiar.
‘Aurore’ faced away from Ciel, and she soon began to walk forward away from the fog.
The colors grew dimmer, and her figure started receding.
He almost immediately lurched forward, but he stopped, just for a moment.
This isn’t….
This is rash.
I don’t know what… It’s not real, but…
He quickly turned around to look at Ferry, who was now kneeling next to the door.
At some point she had stopped trying to open the door and had begun watching him, her face expressionless.
Under her quiet gaze, Ciel rushed forward, clutching the clock, his mind growing heavy.
He pushed himself forcefully onto the noticeably heavier grey substance, which now gave considerable push back, resembling a heavy liquid.
The substance seemed to go on forever as Ciel clawed his way forward, his eyes set on the fading colors in front.
At the same time the substance seemed to be in the process of solidifying, holding him in place and his progress slowed considerably.
Then he stopped, not of his own volition, but because there was no more space to move.
In front of him the fog was now solid, merging completely with his body.
Ciel’s breath grew short, but he found there was no longer any air.
Desperately, he tried to turn around, finally finding a direction to move.
However, he felt the pressure coming in all directions again.
He pushed against it with all his might, but nothing budged.
Just as he was nearing full paralysis, he jolted up from his bed, and immediately made contact with a hard surface.
His eyes still shut from the sudden pain, Ciel heard a disgruntled groan from right above him.
Finally opening his eyes, he saw his younger brother Leo, clutching his forehead in pain above his bed.
Realizing what had happened, Ciel quickly stammered an apology, but Leo bluntly waved him off.
Then he said something that made Ciel’s heart drop.
“Sorry to throw this on you so suddenly, but Aurore is gone.”
***
Back in the dream, Ferry stood rooted to the spot.
Her arm that had reached towards Ciel once he turned around now fell limp beside her.
After a few brief seconds she got up, continuing forward through the endless hallway.