"DON'T GO"

“THE DREAMS WE CANNOT CONTROL ALREADY OWNS US”

DAMIEN (HADES) POV

I am in the dream again, and I always know I'm dreaming the moment it starts, but that never gives me control over it because it just means I'm aware enough to suffer through it properly.

It begins in silence, not a peaceful silence but a silence that has haunted my dreams countless times, a kind of silence I have been wishing to end, the kind that feels wrong like the world is holding its breath and refusing to let go.

There is a piano in front of me, old with dark wood and slight scratches along the edges like it has been touched too many times by hands that meant something, and the room itself is endless though I can't see where it begins or ends, just shadows stretching too far in every direction and swallowing light before it can settle.

And then her, this same girl again, my little Ghost, and she is always there before I understand why, a girl sitting at the piano with a white veil falling softly over her face, hiding everything except the parts my mind refuses to erase. Her eyes are gold, not normal gold and not human gold but something brighter, something that looks like it remembers me even when I don't remember myself.

She is playing, and soft notes spill into the air like water dripping into something already full, slow and controlled and familiar in a way that makes my chest tighten for reasons I can't explain, and when I try to move toward her my body doesn't listen properly because it never does here, and it feels like the closer I get the further she becomes, like the space between us bends on purpose.

"Wait," I say, but no sound comes out, of course it doesn't because this place never gives me what I want, and when I try again anyway there is nothing, the music continuing like I never spoke and something about that makes irritation rise in my chest, not fear and not confusion but something worse. Recognition. Like I've been here before too many times.

The notes shift and slow down, then they change, not into a song anymore but into something heavier, something that feels like memory pretending to be music, and I knew how this ended every single time, my chest tightening as I say "No" again, forcing the word out this time, and it works. 

My voice echoes slightly in the empty space as the girl stops playing instantly, silence dropping so hard it almost hurts. Her hands hover above the keys before she slowly turns her head toward me just slightly, not fully like she is afraid of what happens if she shows me everything at once. The veil moves with her but I still can't see her properly, only those gold eyes locked onto me like she has been waiting a long time for me to finally look back.

I take a step forward, the floor under me feeling unstable like it doesn't want me to reach her, and I ask "Who are you?" with a voice that is lower now, strained, real, but this time she doesn't answer and just looks at me, and there is something in that silence that feels like accusation and familiarity at the same time.

Then she places her fingers back on the piano, one note and then another, but it's wrong now because it doesn't feel like music anymore and instead feels like something being pulled out of me, something I didn't know I was carrying.

 My breathing tightens as I say "Stop" louder this time, but the sound continues anyway, the notes growing heavier in feeling and pressing against my skull and crawling under my skin. I don't understand it but my body reacts like it does, like it knows her, like it's been waiting for her.

"Stop," I repeat again, stepping forward harder this time as the ground beneath me cracks slightly, and the piano sound stutters as for the first time her hands pause completely and she looks at me again. This time it feels different, softer, like she is deciding something, like she is saying goodbye before she even arrives. I whisper "No" though I don't know why my voice has dropped like that. She tilts her head slowly and then plays again one final sequence of notes.

But this time the veil shifts just slightly, enough, and I see white hair and soft features I can't fully place but feel like I've seen in fragments before, not in real life and not anywhere I can explain, just in places I can't reach when I wake up. My heart stops because I know somehow that I'm finally seeing something real.

"Wait," I say again, and this time my voice breaks through fully. The piano stops instantly. She looks at me and I see it, not fear and not surprise but something closer to recognition, like she knows I've finally reached the edge of something I was never supposed to touch.

"Don't go," I say. The words leave me without permission. She doesn't respond as the veil shifts again, and then she is gone, just gone, no sound and no movement and no trace. Only the empty piano sitting in front of me like it has never been touched in its life. I take a step forward anyway and then another. My hand reaches out but there is nothing to grab. The air is cold and empty and wrong. And then the dream collapses.

I wake up suddenly, breathing hard and sitting upright before I even register the movement, my chest rising and falling too fast like I've been running instead of sleeping.

The room is dark and completely still, too still. I drag a hand through my hair trying to steady myself but the feeling from the dream doesn't leave because it never does. It lingers, always the same place in my chest and always the same pressure, like something is missing and I'm the only one who can feel it.

I exhale slowly once and then twice. My heartbeat finally starts to slow but my mind is still not here yet. Still there. Still in the room with the piano and with her. I stare into the darkness for a long moment before I say quietly, almost annoyed at myself.

" I lost her , Again."

A knock comes at the door and I don't answer, but the door opens anyway, of course it does, and Ares's voice comes from the hallway.

"Brother," he says, though I don't look at him as I say flatly.

"I told you not to enter without permission."

He steps inside like I didn't speak at all and replies.

"I knocked."

I sigh and ask "What do you want?" as I hear him move closer. I don't need to look to know he's watching me carefully because he always does, like he's waiting for something in me to break, and he says quietly.

"You look restless. Same dream?"

The silence that follows is enough answer.

He exhales and adds.

"Don't worry, we'll find her."

That makes me finally look at him. My expression is colder than I intend it to be as I repeat "Find her?" and he nods and says.

"The veiled girl, whoever she is."

So I look away again at the thought of a girl who only exists when I sleep, a girl I can't reach, a girl my mind refuses to let go of.

Before I can say anything else, Ares shifts his weight slightly and says.

"about the inspections. When are we starting the Gate checks? The councils are waiting."

I sit up straighter slowly. My body feels heavier than it should with everything in me still feeling slightly trapped between sleep and something else, and then I answer.

"The Southern Gates."

Ares pauses and says.

"That's specific."

And I say simply.

"It's the first one."

So he watches me for a second longer than necessary and then nods and says.

"Alright."

Ares turns to leave but hesitates before he does to ask.

"You're sure?"

And I don't hesitate at all when I say.

"Yes."

The door closes behind him and I sit alone in the dark again, but even now, even awake, I can still hear it. The piano.