“Isn’t it… beautiful?”

For the first time, her eyes were not glancing around her in fearful dread. The moon shined above her, painting the sky with its white hues and brightness. The stars, before so hidden, were twinkling weakly but insistently behind the darkness that surrounded them. A vision so pretty… and so easily discarded, the earth a nightmare that had kept her from even glancing.

“So, I am really not dreaming.”

“Well, not you, sister.” Daedalus smiled at her, kindly and softly raising his arm to point behind them. He whispered with his eyes now closed, his voice all ever reverent. “Our father is the dreamer, and you, us, a dream.”

Rachel laid a hand on her chest, her fingers pressuring slightly, her skin under her ragged clothes feeling real… and at the same time not. Just one night ago, she was running for her life, chased by flesh-eating beings. And now, she felt it was pointless, her life perhaps unreal after all.

“You call me sister.” Daedalus nodded with his omnipresent smile, acknowledging her words and her keen observation. He seemed proud to hear her admit facts that he had to relay to others in the past. “You, too, had a-”

He let her pause, an incredulous laugh escaping her clenched teeth. It was never easy to come to terms with the fact that you were a mere figment of somebody else.

“Fuck, a story, right?” She grimaced and grinned at the same time, grabbing his shirt in a manner that would have seemed aggressive. But he knew she was seeing her world twist and crumble, reform around her. “Daedalus, what is going to happen if he wakes up. How long has he been asleep? Have you ever seen him awake?”

Gently, as an older brother would, he placed his own hands over hers. He took a deep breath… and somehow, lost in his caring gaze, she found herself doing so as well. He looked young, yet he showed for how long he had existed, his voice never losing its balance.

“I’ve seen father awake many times. You don’t need to fear. It will be like mere sleep for you, and you will awake when he fades into dreams. Rest assured, all of us can attest of it. He always comes back to us.”

Rachel shivered. Normally, it would have been a cold feeling, but it was a warm sensation. Instead of fading, it only intensified. Her eyes twitched, the brightness of the moon seemingly growing. After shielding her eyes, she followed Daedalus’ reluctant glance behind them. In between the whispering figures, the one who they called father stood. The more he neared slowly with his walking crane, the less she could distinguish the features of her supposed brothers and sisters.

Father laid a hand on Daedalus’ shoulder. Before she could protest, the one who had done the most to ease her fears moved away, leaving her alone with the one she had refused to face before. Daedalus gave her one last comment before he went to the others, her eyes unable to see his features in between the light anymore.

“We were so eager to see you reach the end of your path, to meet you. Good morning, sister.”

Those last words were goodbye; for the moon was descending, their surroundings a sea of light, a sight unnatural and irrational. She lost sight of him and his siblings, even the dark black forests drowned in white.

“Dae-”

She tried to step towards the others, but she found herself faded. Faded both in mind… and body. There was nothing more where she could move to; in fact, there should be nothing where she could be standing. Her own arms were now translucent, the only persistent thing of what had been before.

Only father remained, like if the light could not overwhelm and consume his presence.

In her fear, stronger than when she thought to be torn to shreds by monsters, she let one tear escape her. She feared disappearing, going away forever…

Yet, she saw Daedalus’ kind eyes again. Deep in the old man’s eyes, she saw the same expression. After holding her trembling hand, he spoke to her with the same tone, with part of that same caring knowledge.

“Shh, you’ll see him soon.” He nodded and gently wiped her tear, like if he had no problems seeing her at all, even if she knew she was almost gone. “You will see them, me… and that pretty moon again. As well, all the other sights the others feared losing, at first.”

“It is…”

“I know. Dreadful.”

She let go, for she had no other choice. Father’s mind could no longer resist the pull, the omnipresent need to awake to the sun.

When his eyes opened, it was to the sight of a blank ceiling. His sight echoed in the small gray room; empty, lonely, and all ever uneventful.

However, he did not stay in bed and mourn the sights he had let fade. Standing weakly but with intent, he reached for his old desk. The wooden chair creaked under him as he seated himself. The fresh ink stained the notebook slightly, as he began to write.

He wrote her name one last time, ending the last chapter of her story. And like always, he gave it a title, as the last task: Dreadful nights.