"Shakes?" Nick asked. "I figured we could get food and take it to Dorian's?"
He really needed to keep going with his plans to open the place back up, but it seemed anytime he started to get somewhere, something else happened. Which is why he was relieved to not be out in the woods, fighting some weird human vulture type things. Besides, he hadn't talked to Sabrina about her dreams, yet she'd visited him in his. Could they at least work their way through one thing for once before getting dragged into the next?
"If you feel comfortable talking about it, that is." He added that as an afterthought, remembering how unprepared any of them were to deal with the aftermath of the death circle. He supposed it depended on what sort of nightmare she'd found herself in.
Did Sabrina want to talk about her dream? No. Did she know that she probably needed to do so? Yes. And she had a feeling that Nick needed to do so as well. At least unlike the death circle these hadn’t been actual memories, just twisted versions of their own deepest fears. Hopefully that would make it easier to talk about.
“Shakes and food sounds good.” Or at least it would probably help to make the conversation run smoother.
“Also remind me to tell you about the dream I had the first time Batibat attacked my family,” Sabrina told him, trying not to blush when she remembered parts of that particular nightmare. “You had an...interesting role in it. Completely not in a bad way.”
But first food.
"Well now I'm curious, Spellman," Nick replied, before taking Sabrina's arm and teleporting them both to the Grease Bucket for food, that they then took to Dorian's. "Okay so tell me about me, in that dream," he said. His curiosity couldn't wait throughout the meal.
“Weirdly you were at Baxter High and so were the Weird Sisters, in a letterman jacket--you not them.” She picked up one of the fries as she remembered what he’d said to her in that dream. Maybe she wouldn’t go into exactly what it had been. “Flirting with me right before Harvey proposed. And then before the wedding--which ended horribly with me in a torture chamber. But anyway, you showed up beforehand and wanted me to fly off with you on your broom.”
It had been a crazy twist to it. Especially because she’d only met Nick like three days beforehand. He’d definitely made an impression.
"When was this?" Nick asked, amused. "You definitely wanted me. Maybe not on the torture though. And a broom?" He grinned at Sabrina, because this was definitely a better sort of dream.
"I dreamt about you when we first met," he added, the conversation already veering off course from what he'd intended but he couldn't say it was a bad thing.
Sabrina stuck her tongue out at him before tossing a fry at his face. “Um, right after you gave my dad’s journal so I could work on the acheron configuration. After my three day trial at the Academy.”
She picked up her milkshake and took a drink, knowing he was going to be smug about the fact she’d been fantasizing about him three days after meeting him.
She knew him well. The smirk on Nick's face said as much as well as he reached up and caught the fry. "That's what I like to hear, Spellman," he teased, continuing to dive into his food. Though he slowed down when he got to the fries, knowing at the end of the meal they'd run out of reasons not to talk. But he was taking his time all the same.
Sabrina rolled her eyes at him, unsurprised when he managed to catch the fry. “Oh please, like I wasn’t part of your nighttime dreams after you met me,” she countered, before taking another sip of her milkshake. She was loath to finish eating as well, taking her time on the burger and slowly dipping her fries in her shake. They’d come there for a reason but if he wanted to talk about this then Sabrina was going to make him start the conversation.
"I just said I did," Nick pointed out. "I'm not ashamed to admit that you had my attention from day one." This wasn't even because he'd been tasked by the Dark Lord to get close to her, though that spectre would forever be at the start of their relationship. Of course, the way things had turned out, it had clearly backfired on the Dark Lord so maybe that's what he needed to forever focus on.
Besides, his dreams weren't at all in his control back then. So they only served to back up his words.
Eventually he couldn't postpone the conversation any longer without ignoring the entire reason he'd suggested they meet there, so he asked, "Drinking or no, for this?"
Sabrina shook her head. “I’m good but get a bottle if you’re going to need it.”
Drinking had never really been one of her vices and had been even less of one once Dan and her had moved in together. She still enjoyed drinking at parties every so often but aside from trying to drink Ambrose under the table when he’d had that memory update in the summer the first time around, Sabrina wasn’t one to usually use it for when she was feeling down.
“It was your voice that broke me out of Batibat’s control.”
Nick didn't get up, choosing to pass on the alcohol as well. For now, at least.
"Was it?" he asked. "Because regardless of what I told you when you were there, I wanted out." He just hadn't been able to say that in the dream, until Sabrina had forced him to look at his hands. And then he wondered why he hadn't been able to get to that point on his own.
But it was a sleep demon responsible so Nick was going to cut himself some slack.
"What were you dreaming about?"
No one ever really wanted to stay in the dreams. Batibat was just extremely good at twisting everything so that they thought they did or couldn’t get out. “I...killed everyone in Vallo, over and over again. Claiming all of their souls as my own, unable to stop the...darkness that’s in me from leaching out into everything else.”
She’d become the new Dark Lord. Something dark and unforgiving and Sabrina had hated seeing it, unable to help but wonder if the reason pieces of Hell kept showing up in Vallo was because she was supposed to be in that place.
Oh.
Whatever Nick was expecting to hear, it wasn't that, and it was reflected on his face. "You know Spellman, I was expecting dark, but that's definitely worse than I imagined."
“Yeah, it sucked.” She shook her shake, hopeful that there was still some left at the bottom but came up empty. It wasn’t the first time she’d had that particular nightmare, though faces had been added to it since last summer. “What about you?”
She’d been in his dream but she hadn’t been able to tell exactly what was going on aside from him being in Pandemonium too.
"Oh, I was just being groomed to become a new version of the Dark Lord, unleashing the monster I really am, with Lucifer in my head the entire time," Nick replied. It was the reason he hadn't immediately jumped to say something that she didn't have darkness in her. He recognized that darkness rather well. He didn't believe in it, fully, but that didn't stop it from lingering beneath the surface.
"My dreams seem to have the theme that you should never have rescued me."
Sabrina let out a sigh after he was done, reaching over for his hand. “We’re quite the pair, aren’t we?” It seemed no matter how hard they might try they couldn’t quite leave Hell behind. It had dug its talons into their skin and even if they weren’t there any longer, it wasn’t completely gone. Having Pandemonium and now the terror forest around really wasn’t helping.
“I don’t know what to do with this. There probably isn’t anything to do with it.” Which sucked and made it that much worse.
"I mean, you helped me realize that the time I spent there isn't all I am, Sabrina. And that's far from who you are. You're never going to destroy everyone and everything."
He gave her a shrug, like it was that simple. Some days it was easier to believe than others. With himself at least. He had far more confidence in Sabrina to not go down some dark and twisted path.
“You’re one of the strongest people I know,” Sabrina told him. She really believed that too. He’d taken in the Dark Lord and survived the experience. It definitely hadn’t been easy but she knew most wouldn’t have been able to endure everything as long as he had.
“And rationally I know I’m not. It just doesn’t help when this place sends pieces of Hell and has sleep demons messing with our heads.” Then it all seemed far too easy to head down the path that led to her becoming a monster.
"Sure," Nick replied. "I mean it sent Roz and I to a snowglobe version that was darker than necessary but we made it out. It's not like it forces you to live in Pandemonium like that demon you have living there. You know? You get to decide what to do with everything, Sabrina. Or what not to do."
He changed his mind on drinking though, and got up to get a specific bottle from behind the bar when he stopped dead, staring at the ground.
Sabrina wasn’t sure it was as simple as that. Not really. Not with how it had sent things to her while slowly updating her on her life back home every so often. But she wasn’t going to argue that, especially not when she glanced over to see what was taking him so long on retrieving something to drink.
“Nick?” She rose, trying to peer over the bar to see what it was that had captivated his attention so completely.
Sabrina's voice shook him from his thoughts, and he leaned down to pick up what he'd discovered waiting for him at the bar. It was costume that Lilith had demanded he wore in hell.
"Speaking of…" he offered, his voice flat, holding up the pieces for Sabrina to see.
Oh.
How wonderful. Screw you, Vallo.
“So. Are we burning it?” she asked, hopeful that the thing would actually burn unlike her damn crown or coronation dress.
"Please," Nick replied. "Normally I'd say let's find a clearing in the woods but…"
Sabrina waved her hand, calling over one of the trash cans before nodding toward the liquor shelf. “Pick your fuel and we can light a match or?” She shook her hand, hellfire surrounding it.
Nick brought the outfit over, placing it in the garbage can. "No need to waste perfectly good alcohol," he offered since Sabrina could conjure hellfire. Hopefully it worked. He didn't need that thing sticking around.
The relief when it burned was visible on Nick's face.
Well, at least that was easy. She tried not to feel jealous over how the damn thing was burning away and would probably be ash in a matter of moments. At least he probably was getting some closure. Sabrina let the hellfire dissipate and sat back down on her stool, not really sure what to say any longer.
"Right," he said, watching as it burned away before turning his attention to Sabrina. "Hey," he said, walking over to the stool and looking at her. "It's what you do with it. With anything. I mean look at the Mortuary. It was just you here for a while, wasn't it? You could have lived in it alone and instead you formed an entire Vallo family." Yeah, that was probably slightly cheesy, but he didn't care. "You just used hellfire to destroy something I never wanted to see again, for me."
Nick shrugged at her, taking Sabrina's hands. "You, Sabrina, are one of the strongest people that I know. And you're also one of the best. So much that we had to plead with you to not go out today because you would rather be doing something to help."
Sabrina moved forward at his words, wrapping her arms around him in a hug. She hadn't realized how much she'd needed to hear something like that said until that moment. Because she didn't always feel strong; some days she felt like she was barely tagging treading water or not doing enough. It helped to hear others tell her that wasn't the case.
She knew she'd done something remarkable with the family she'd built up for herself in Vallo. There were so many people she cared about and who cared about her in turn.
Sabrina pressed her face into his neck, breathing Nick in. "Thank you."
"Of course, Spellman," he said, hugging her back. "Can't have my girlfriend thinking she's this monstrous thing that's going to destroy the world."
Holding her close to him, he added, "I know who you are. You do too."
She desperately wanted to believe those words, to think she really did know who she was, but being rejected by Edward Spellman had done a number on her. Everything she thought she’d known had turned out to be a lie and she hadn’t really processed much of the new memories before being shunted into the snowglobe and then everything that had happened in Vallo since. Losing that connection had skewed with her view of herself. There being two of her had done it as well, especially once she’d lost Morningstar.
It helped to hear Nick say that he knew her though and Sabrina thought maybe she could start to get to know herself again too.
“Just need that reminder every so often.”
"As often as you need it," he said quietly. It was painful to think that she might think otherwise, but with as much as they had been through, as much as she had been through, and knowing how easily things could mess with your mind, Nick was willing to do whatever he could to help. And he wasn't alone in that.
“Think we can just stay here for awhile?” she murmured, still not quite letting go of him. Because she liked the quiet of Dorian’s in that moment and allowed it to wrap around her, ignoring the urge to head out and fight the creatures roaming the woods. Maybe a break was needed.
Nick had known he needed a break, but he was now convinced that Sabrina did as well. And they were alone there at Dorian's, with no one likely to show up, so Nick easily agreed. "Yeah," he said, smiling softly. "We don't have to go anywhere."
He wasn't all that keen on letting go of her, either.
Sabrina relaxed against him, shifting a little to try and get more comfortable. “Okay, but this is getting uncomfortable so can we either move to a couch or upstairs?”
"Oh, yeah, of course," Nick replied, grinning sheepishly. He thought about grabbing a bottle on the way, but with monsters attacking out in the woods, sobriety was probably best.
Hopefully, though, they could just sit there in each other's company for a while and continue to leave the fighting to somebody else.