Not Until We Are Lost

Simon found Niklas easily. He didn't speak to her when he did, though. And he paid no attention to the women in the house who tried to stop him as he headed toward the stairs. The fairy waved a hand and they forgot he was even there. He didn't even knock on her door, just slid the elegantly written note under it and left again.

It stated simply to meet him in the Dreamlands in two nights time.

The time passed easily for him, he found many things to occupy himself while he was waiting. The citizens of this world weren't too exciting, but Simon did like their clothing, and he liked the cars. There was plenty of interesting sights, despite the lack of interesting people. He knew he could have sought out any of the ones who he had been moved with, they would at least be better than any of the ones they were now stuck with. But he wanted his mind clear when he spoke to Niks. There was already Isaac to think about, and what he might be able to do with the youth. Or to him.

Simon waited in the forest at the bottom of the stairs, not hiding his true face, and even displaying the wings he more often than not kept hidden. He knew that she liked them. He lay on his stomach in a patch of beautifully colored flowers. The brightness of everything in the Dreamlands was a bit startling after all the black and white, even for him. He found himself fascinated with a particular purple color at the moment, gently touching the edges of the petal to move it into light and shadow respectively. The green of the grass was beautifully rich, and the fairy wondered how anybody could live their life forever never knowing color.

He wore nothing other than a bit of cloth around his lower bits for modesty. His bare feet wiggled in the lush foliage around him, and he listened to the sounds of birds and other animals. Simon didn't know if he was ever as truly at peace as he was when in the Dreamlands.

Eva was going crazy in this place.

She wasn't used to being treated delicately. She didn't approve of it. She could hear her father's laughter in her head, taunting her for what she had to go through. It wasn't that they opened doors for her. That was fine. It was that they didn't trust her to take care of herself. Or do anything. She couldn't pick out books without somebody trying to foist romances on her, or home journals. She couldn't carry groceries without some dick taking them out of her arms and walking behind her all the way home.

Most of the time, she didn't know where Olivia was. Maybe she'd abandoned Olivia. Or maybe Olivia had abandoned her. Eva couldn't remember. She had flashes of the woman in her memory and couldn't tell if they were recent or from the diner. She couldn't even be totally sure that her interactions with Olivia were things that happened outside of her head.

Insanity was a thing that was hardwired into her DNA. Her parents were both unstable. She knew this. It wasn't news. It wasn't surprising. She saw the genius of them both, but she also couldn't deny the crazy. Look how Jack treated Harley, yet she stayed, or came back, always. Look at Jack's obsessions.

For a long time, Eva had pushed it away, thinking it would never touch her. As she'd gotten older, she had to admit that it was a possibility. And now, she was wondering if she was falling apart completely.

The lack of color didn't help, either. Eva was used to color. Needed it. Well, realized she needed it now that she didn't have it. She'd never thought about it before. Now it was a huge deal.

With everything going on outside, the repression, the gentleness toward her gender, Eva stayed inside most of the time. She would look out her window, the lights off, watching. Wishing that it would all stop. Wondering - once in a while - if she killed herself, if she'd wind up back in Gotham. This all a sick dream. Since she couldn't be sure, she didn't try. Death was not a thing she wanted to experience at this time.

Eva sat on the bed, wondering if Olivia was anywhere nearby. Wondering how many days had passed.