InsaneJournal

Who: Sean & Molly
What: Reaching out through her connection with the realm of the dead, Molly finally makes contact. Again. The question is will Sean remember in the morning?
When: 12/26/09, early morning in EST, aprox 5AM where Molly is
Where: Dublin, New York, somewhere in between
Rating: PG13is for dream-imagery

Danu, preserve me, Molly prayed silently, pouring a circle of salt around where her body would be resting, soulless and inert. Morrigan, grant me passage safely through your realm. Mider, guide my steps. The salt down, Molly laid in the center of the circle, closing her eyes. It wasn’t easy to separate the soul from the body. There was a fear that went with death, that hung on those souls that lingered on the wrong side of the veil. She felt that fear every night she did this.

It was like shedding a large, heavy, useless piece of baggage. Molly stood beside herself and looked down and at the thick cord that connected her to the girl on the floor. It wouldn’t take these people much longer to figure out she had been stealing large amounts of salt. And to figure out the reason why.

“Danu, preserve me,” Molly repeated, the words having no real substance but seeming more real than they would coming from her mouth, “Morrigan, grant me passage safely through your realm,” she said, taking a step into the ether, “Mider, guide my steps.”

Molly sought tonight, a man who had known, and had fought her family. It was easier to find people than someone would think. Souls kept their connections.

Sean was five hours back, and thus was just settling in for bed while Molly was preparing her ritual. It had been a long day - lunch with Terry, then beginning to take a swing at the giant pile of paperwork the Mansion seemed to run on. A wee nip of something, a last pull on the pipe, and he settled in to bed.

Almost as soon as his eyes closed, the dreams began. Back in Cassidy Keep, the nightmare that unfolded each time he was feeling just a tiny bit lonely, a little bit weary.

Maeve Rourke.

His beloved wife and partner.

Dangling from the rafter.

There was no exact science to what Molly was doing. It was hit and miss and the likelihood that the person in question would even remember the dream was slim. But she had to keep trying. She wouldn’t be a captive because of her powers again. It was a vow she had made when she woke up from the nightmare that had been the last year of her father’s life.

With a deep breath, she entered Cassidy’s dream. The form she took was a total shock to her. A woman hanging from a rafter.

“Help,” she gasped, she could feel the rope against her neck, pulling so very tight, “Please...”

Sean did something Molly had only witnessed once. He screamed. But it wasn’t a scream of fright. It was a scream of passion, and it neatly severed the rope Molly/Maeve was dangling from. “Maeve!” he screamed again, this time without that piercing quality, and rushed to her side.

Molly remembered that. It wasn’t something she was likely to forget. Or how she had taunted her father afterward, and how he had paid that back... But that wasn’t important right now. Molly took a moment to breathe, even knowing that she didn’t need air like this it didn’t change the fact that spending a life alive meant even her soul thought it did.

She looked up at him, this wasn’t the first time she had taken someone else’s form in someone’s dream. The urgency of what she was trying to do might have colored it, she wasn’t sure and didn’t exactly have time or the want to test the theory, “You have to help me,” she said, muttering a pray to Danu that this time the message would stick.

“I’m here.” he told her soothingly as he wrapped her up in a hug. “Thank God you’re safe.” he said fervently. But the husband and father quickly took a back seat to the law enforcement agent. “Who did this to ye?” he asked urgently, his accent decidedly slipping.

The physical contact made Molly uncomfortable. She had to remind herself it wasn’t really physical, even if she could feel it. She had to do this though, no matter what, she had to get through to someone. And Cassidy, her mother’s old friend, had saved her once. She could push him in the direction to save her again, or at least she hoped so.

“They won’t let me go,” she said, trying to shift the scene to where she was now. Just so he could see it, and know it when he saw it again, “You have to help me.”

“Who won’t let ye go?” he asked. “What have you been up to while I’ve been away?” he asked. “Whatever it is, Maeve my love, we’ll get it sorted.” he promised. “I promise.”

“They call themselves Black Air,” Molly said, not bothering to correct what he was calling her. It would just cause confusion, she knew because she had tried to correct someone before and it had ended badly, “I can’t leave.”

Sean frowned. “Nasty bunch, luv.” he told her tenderly, stroking her cheek and brushing her hair out of her eyes. “Rumored to be into all sorts of unpleasantness.”

“Oh, that they are,” Molly confirmed, “I can’t let it happen again,” she said firmly, “Ya hafta get me out of here.”

Sean looked confused. This isn’t how it usually went when he had this dream. Something wasn’t right. “Ye never got to see yuir lass grow up tall and strong.” he said sadly. “Ye’d be so proud of her.”

Molly blanked for a moment before she remembered that Sean did have a daughter. Tom, the bastard, had mentioned her often enough. She really shouldn’t forget things like that, but she had other concerns on her mind right now than the ins and outs of the Cassidy clan, “Aye, of that I’m sure, but for th’ moment, I need ya to listen to me.”

Sean pulled away for a bit so he could look his beloved dead wife in the eye. Only, she didn’t really look like Maeve anymore - red hair, aye, but that was passing common in Eire. The nose was different, the eyes were different … it was all wrong.

The look on his face changed, good. Maybe she was actually getting through for once. Thank Danu for that! “Do ya see me now?” she asked, she had to make sure, “Do ya know who I am?”

Sean just looked terribly confused. “Maeve?” he asked, but then shook his head. No. Not her. Something wasn’t right. “Wait. Yer that gel we pulled out of that sorcery business in Dublin!” he said.

“Aye. And ya knew me mum too,” she knew that both the Cassidy brothers had, before her mom married, “And I’m in need of help again.”

“This is a dream.” he said, becoming more fully aware of what was going on. “Where are you, girl?” he asked, slipping more into his policeman role, complete with his sweats morphing into a full dress Interpol uniform.

“Aye, ‘tis a dream. But dreams can be more real than life,” she said, “I can show ya where I am, if ya let me,” Molly said, her clothes going back to what she was wearing in her safe circle where her body laid dormant, “And by Danu’s grace, mabbe you’ll remember this when ya wake up.”

“Fine. Just show me.” he said a touch irritably. While it wasn’t her fault, taking the shape of Maeve just served to poke a hole through his scar tissue.

“Alright,” Molly said, the scene shifted, it was easiest at first to show him the room where she presently was, her body on the floor. It was a recall point, and an easy one to just step to, “I don’t get outta here much, but they seemed ta forget a person’s spirit ain’t so limited as the person.”

“It’s a bedroom. Congrats.” he said, peering at the room. “You back in Eire, lass, or somewhere else?” he asked. He couldn’t tell from the room itself.

“It’s a point to come back to, this ain’t as easy as it looks,” Molly pointed out, “This place is in Wales,” she said, the signage gave it away when she looked around the first time. You could ward against a lot of things, but this aspect was hardly one of them. She ‘closed’ her eyes, took his hand and shifted it, to the nearby town, “About twenty minutes from here.”

Sean concentrated fiercely, trying to lock things into his memory. “Ah, lass, I’m in New York right now.” he said. “It will take me a few days to get over there and get some lads together to free you.” he pointed out. “Can you hold out that long?”

“Aye. They’ll have a bloody awful time trying ta bend me,” Molly swore, “That ain’t going to happen again.” New York, that was far away, she could deal. She had found him. She had to exploit her connection to Tom to do so, something that made her feel dirty, but it had worked. She didn’t trust the other brother to get her out and not want something in return

“All ye need to do is hold on. I’ll get a few lads together and we’ll be there as soon as we can.” he promised.

“I ain’t going anywhere,” Molly said simply, it was true, she wasn’t, “After these bastards’re gone, I’m gunna need somewhere ta go. They’ve got eyes in WHO. I can’t go back there now either.” Of all the things she had seen these people do, she felt for the loss of her one safe haven the most. Especially now.

“All I ask,” Molly said, “Is that Danu grants you remembrance this time.”

“Think I got just the thing.” he said with a wink and a grin. “Be there as soon as I can.” he said, then faded out as he stroke to wake himself.

Molly nodded once, and then her face twisted in pain, bending over, clutching herself as something started to pull her out of this realm, violently. “Hurry,” she managed, trying to say something else, but the words not coming. She screamed as she was unceremoniously pulled out and shoved back in her body.

Molly opened her eyes with a start, a boot on her chest, the panic causing the dead to rise around her.

“Clever little bitch,” said the owner of the boot, seemingly not bothered by the wailing of spirits around him, “Good thing you didn’t get any of your Da’s talent or you might actually be a threat.”