The land of dreams

by JUSTEXISTINGINTHEBACKGROUND

Summary:

Brielle, Jett and Lysander set out on a journey to find a land that supposedly grants a person's greatest wish

Chapter 1

Brielle 

I was waiting. For what? I didn’t know. Just sitting by the docks watching the ships, waiting. I’ve never been on one of these ships, never even been on a boat. I can’t. 

 I can’t go near the water, or the memories start. Being pulled down through the water, unable to breathe. Hearing that voice, telling me to just swim, that I should be able to do this. Who ever heard of a siren drowning? I drown, then wake up on a beach. My foot was bleeding; I didn’t know why. I don’t remember how old I was when it happened. The only proof I have is the scar across the top of my foot. So, I've never gone near the water.  

Until today. I see a ship called The Sirens Song. I don’t know why I’m so compelled to walk towards it. Once I reach the boat, the memories start. I am drowning again, head below water, lungs screaming for air. Then everything goes dark.  

When I wake up, I’m not on the docks. Whatever I’m on is rocking slightly, and there’s a face peering over at me. A demon. With bright pink eyes and short horns poking out of their messy black hair.  

“Who are you?” I ask. The demon disappears so quickly I think I might have imagined them. I decide it's just my mind playing tricks on me. I get up to explore my surroundings. I’m in a small room and it’s still moving a bit. I gasp as they realize I’m on a ship. I immediately try to exit the room, but feel a bit dizzy and end up tripping over my own feet. I end up crashing into someone I can’t see. I watch from the floor as the demon becomes visible again.  

“How-” 

“I'm cursed.” The demon responds. “Invisibility. Can't control it at all.” 

“Where are we?” I ask, realizing that I have no idea where I am or where this ship is going. 

“On the Siren's Song, somewhere in the ocean.” 

“How did I get here?”  

“One of the crew members brought you in. Said they were sailors harassing you while you were asleep and she didn’t know what else to do with you.” 

“Where are we going?” 

“The lost woods.” 

“Why?” 

“I don’t know.” 

“Why are you going there?” 

“You ask a lot of questions.” 

“I'm trying to figure out what the fuck is going on here.” 

“I'm not the reason you're on this ship; I just happen to be sharing a room with you.”  I look around the room more. It has two sets of bunkbeds but seems a bit small to share with three other people. One of the bunkbeds is completely covered in stuff.  

“That's Lysander’s bed, I think he was rich or something, to have that much stuff, but he’s staying in the cheapest room, so he probably lost his money somehow. He's kind of annoying in that spoiled rich person way, you know? He's taken over that whole side of the room already but luckily there's only three of us in here.” 

“Where's all your stuff?” I ask. He points to a small trunk labelled Jett, on the top bunk of the other bed. 

“Jett, is that your name?” I ask. He nods. “My name is Brielle.” 

Brielle, Jett and Lysander

Chapter 2

Summary:

Brielle meets Lysander. They talk about the land of dreams come true.

Jett  

I was invisible again, watching everyone on the ship. I do this a lot. Just watches, invisible. I can’t really participate like this. So, I just watch everyone. It's not as lonely as it seems, he’s still around people a lot, I just don’t usually talk. Except for today. Someone saw me, talked to me even while I was invisible. I’m watching them now. They made it up to the deck and are now trying to brush the tangles out of their long dark hair.  

“Are you just going to keep staring at me?” They look over at him. I look down at Myself but I’m still invisible.  

“How’d you know I'm here?”  

“You can’t jump down from there without making a sound so you would have to still be there.”  

“I could, if I wanted to.” 

“Prove it.” 

“I can’t, if I did you wouldn’t know.” It’s so weird to actually be talking to someone like this, just having a conversation. I normally only talk when I have to. I’ve never joked around like this with anyone. 

I jump down from where I was sitting, silently as always. I sneak over to Brielle. 

“Hello.” I say directly in their ear. They jump. 

“How do you do that?” 

“Practice. And I'm just naturally quiet.”  

“Who are you talking to?” Lysander walks up to them. And why do you have my hairbrush?” 

“Jett is here. And you have like four different hairbrushes in that pile of stuff; I figured I'd borrow one to try and get rid of this mess.” They gesture to their half-brushed hair.  

“Who’s Jett?” He frowns, looking around for me. “Is that your imaginary friend or-” 

“Me.” I say poking his arm. “You know, your invisible roommate.” 

“Your name is Jett?” 

“Is this the Lysander guy you told me about?” Brielle asks me.  

“Prince Lysander-” 

“If you’re a prince, why are you staying in such a cheap room?” 

“I don’t have to tell you that. I don’t even know who you are.” 

“My name is Brielle. I live near the docks where you got on the ship. I'm 17 years old and I use they/them pronouns. Oh, and I like to sing. There now you know me. Tell me about you?” 

“My brother stole my throne, and now I have nothing to do with my life.” Lysander complains. “So, I'm going to the land of dreams come true.” 

“Isn’t that a place from the storybooks? Where your greatest desire is granted after you go on a horrible journey. It's not a real place.” 

“Yes, it is.” Lysander grabs something out of his pocket. It's a map, with a path marked on it. “Through the lost woods, over this river, past the land of death and monsters. It's right there.”  

“It grants your biggest wish, no matter what it is.” I add. 

“Are you going there too?” Brielle asks. 

“If I go, I'll finally be free of this curse. I have to try at least.” 

“We could go together.” Lysander says to me. 

“Hell no.” I curse. “I'm not going anywhere with you.” 

“What if someone wanted to get rid of memories?”  

Chapter 3

Summary:

Lysander and Jett argue. They all come out to each other.

Lysander  

“Are all demons that short?” Jett is visible again, and I ask about his height. “How tall are you anyway?” 

“152cm” 

“I'm 183cm tall, you're so short. Brielle, how tall are you? 

“170cm. Stop teasing him.”  

“Your eyes are so bright too. I've never seen a guy demon with such pink eyes. And your horns are so little. Is this what teenage demons look like?” 

“I'm 18, I'm an adult.” 

“Really?” I tilt my head. “You don’t look it.”  

“Seriously Lys, leave him alone.” 

I do, and we just sit in silence for a little while. I eventually get up to change into pajamas. Brielle and Jett both glance over at me, and Jett becomes invisible again. 

“What?” I stop, noticing that Brielle is giving me a funny look. “Where else do you expect me to get changed?” 

At that moment Jett reappears; half changed into his own pjs. He's shirtless, exposing dark grey scars on his chest. 

“What are those scars from?” I ask. Jett turns away, putting his shirt on and climbing into bed.  

“Leavemealone.” 

“It was just a question.” 

“It was a bunch of annoying comments about how I look. Almost like you were trying to get me to admit something.” Jett glares at me. “Or out myself. Yes, I'm a trans guy, is that what you wanted to hear, that’s why I'm so short and have pink eyes and the scars are top surgery scars. Can you stop bothering me about that now?” 

“I wasn’t trying to get you to admit anything. I don’t even know what trans is. I was just...” I’m so confused. 

“You seriously don’t know about transgender people?” 

I shake my head. “I've never heard of that term before today. Can I ask what it means or are you going to freak out again.” 

“It means... your gender identity doesn't match with your body.  I was born with a girl body but I'm a guy.” 

“I also consider myself trans,” Brielle says. “But I don’t really identify with either gender. That's why I use they pronouns instead of she.”  

“Oh yeah, you mentioned that earlier. I was going to ask what that meant but I forgot, I've never met someone who uses those pronouns before, sorry if I accidentally call you she. And Jett, sorry I kept asking those questions.”  

“it's fine... you didn’t know.” Jett replies. 

We sit in silence for a few minutes. 

“You know, you never told us how your brother stole your throne,” Brielle says. “Aren’t elves really traditional about that stuff. Like the oldest son always has to take the throne always.” 

“My brother caught me... doing something... something... really illegal and exposed me to the rest of the kingdom, huge scandal and I lost my throne.” I really don’t want to tell them about this. 

“Holy shit, what’d you do?” Jett says. 

“I-I-I.... I... I uh kissed a guy.” Why’d I admit it. Now they're going to think there's something wrong with me. 

“That’s illegal in your kingdom? I always forget just how backwards some of the other kingdoms are. That's awful.” 

“Yeah, I'm also from the elven kingdom, it's not great. The number of times I've been fined because I was “seducing women” with my singing is actually crazy. I'm surprised they didn’t have you killed.”  

“Well, I am exiled from my own kingdom forever so...” 

Chapter 4

Brielle
“Whh-hhy is the boat rocking so much?” I feel like I'm about to throw up. “I hate ships so much.”

“It’s storming outside. Just a small storm, the boat can handle it.” Jett explains.

Thunder crashes outside. Jett jumps and claps his hands over his ears.

“Still think it's a small storm?”

“Yes, I just don’t like loud noises.”

“Here.” Lysander hands him some earplugs. “I don’t like the noise either.”

“Thanks.”

There's not much to do on a ship during a storm. Lysander gets out his sketchbook to add more details to the map he’s drawn there. I spend most of my time trying not to be seasick.

“I'm bored.” Jett complains.

“You didn’t bring anything with you to do?” Lysander questions. “Not even a book or something?”

“I can’t read.”

“What?”

“I never went to school, I can’t read.”

“Why-”

“Hard to go to school when your invisible all the time.”

“Do you want to learn to read? I could teach you.” Lysander offers.

“My reading skills aren’t the greatest either, could you also teach me?” I ask. “I make up songs sometimes and it would be nice to be able to write them down.”

“Ok, we’ll have a lesson right now. Do you at least know the alphabet?”

“Yes, and I can read a bit, I just can’t write it.” I answer. Jett shakes his head.

Lysander teaches us to write the alphabet. He spends most of the day teaching us basic reading and writing. At the end of the day, he ends up reading to us.

The next day

I've been in these same clothes for days, it's absolutely great being stuck on a ship for who knows how long without even a change of clothes.

“Can I borrow some clothes?” I ask

Lysander looks over his clothes. “They wouldn’t fit you.” He says, slightly too fast.

Lysander is not only taller but generally larger, contrasting with my slim figure. I don’t think that's the reason he won’t share his clothes though.

“You could borrow some of my clothes, but they might be a little small.”

A little small was an understatement. The shirt isn’t so bad, kind of tight, like a form fitting cropped shirt. The pants were clearly designed for a much shorter person.

“I'm going to go see if there’s someone else on the ship to lend me clothes.”

I exit our cramped room and walk through the ship.

“Hi.” a girl, maybe a year younger than me and about the same height.

“Hi,” I respond. “I’m Brielle.”

“Belinda.”

“Where are you travelling to?”

“The isle of harmony, to marry my fiancé.”

“Are they travelling with you?”

“He’s already there waiting for me.”

We talk some more, and she lets me borrow some clothes.

“Keep them, I have plenty of clothes.”

I end up spending the rest of the stormy days altering the clothes to be more my style.

Chapter 5

Summary:

They go to a party on board the ship. Drinks are spiked.

Notes:

Sorry it's been a few weeks I've been really busy.

Jett “They’re having a party later. Are you going?” Brielle asks.

“Why would I-”

“Yes.” Lysander interrupts “Is that just an excuse to wear your fancy clothes?”

“Yes.”

“Don’t you wear clothes like that everyday anyway?” Brielle teasing

“How many people?” I ask.

“Most of the ship I think?” Brielle responds. “Just stay for a few minutes and if you truly hate it you can leave.” “fiiinnee.”

So, I have to go to a party. Great. I hate parties, they’re so noisy and have way too many people. I should probably change. Can't wear my regular clothes to a party.

We sort of have a system now, for changing. Whoever's changing their clothes stands facing the wall and the others just don’t look. I change into my nicest shirt but leave the rest of my outfit the same.

“You're not even going to take off the arm things?” Brielle says. They’ve changed for the party too; they’re wearing a pretty turquoise dress with a pink corset.

“No.” My “arm things” hide concealed knives. And they prevent my wrists from hurting all the time. And they cover... I decide to switch to my gloves but turn away first so Brielle can’t see my arms.

“What about your boots? Knee high boots at a party?”

“Says the person who's barefoot.” Lysander chimes in. They argue back and forth for a bit, till we go to the party.

 

We're at the party. There are people playing music and a few people are dancing to it. I'm just watching. Watching as Brielle talks with their friend and Lysander.

“We should go dance; it looks like so much fun.” Belinda says. They go to dance, leaving their drinks behind.

I follow them but stay to the edge of the dancers. As I watch everyone, I notice a few girls I had seen before are missing. Not odd in itself, but those were also girls I noticed boarding the ship alone. I spend a lot of time watching people, Typically, someone like that will go to something like this to make friends on the ship like Brielle and Belinda. It's odd that so many girls just stayed in their rooms alone.

I look over at where my friends left their drinks and see a man slip something from his pocket and put it in the drinks. I get closer, trying to see what it is.

I end up following him around, just far enough behind to not be seen, for a while. I see him slip it into someone else's drink too.

I've seen it before. It's a plant that induces a coma like sleep when consumed. With a regular dosage, someone could stay asleep forever. I run back over to where Brielle and Belinda’s drinks are. The man didn’t spike Lysander’s for some reason.

“Don’t drink that!” I shout at Brielle, already holding their glass.

They hear but as I get closer, I can see they’ve already drank some. I grab both them and Belinda's glasses and dump them.

“Did you drink any?” Belinda shakes her head.

“Good. We have about five minutes before they pass out, let's get them back to our room.”

“What?” Brielle sounds slightly panicked. “The drinks were spiked. It won’t hurt you; you’ll just be asleep for a little while.”

Brielle is already starting to get wobbly. I grab their shoulders to steady them.

“Get Lysander.” I tell Belinda.

Brielle collapses a moment later but Lysander is able to carry them back to our room. I make Belinda stay the night in our room for safety although it bothers Lysander a bit having to clear his stuff off the other bed.

Chapter 6

Summary:

We learn what Jett does for work.

Lysander

We wake up the next day to screams.

It's difficult to tell what going on in the chaos but I can see a dead body. A couple of crew members have already started dragging it away. I look into the room it was in and see...

At least five girls, naked and motionless. At first, I think they are dead. But as I watch, I can see a bit of movement. Not dead, just sleeping. Like what happened to Brielle. But unlike Brielle, these girls haven’t woken up yet.

“That could have been me.” Brielle shudders, looking at the girls.

I follow the crowd out to the deck where I see the dead body again. I almost vomit when I see it. There are words carved into his face. Stay away frum the wimen. Stay away from the women.

Someone figured out this man was hurting these girls. And killed him.

There's a murderer on this ship.

A few hours later we’re back in our room.

Jett is sitting on his bed, his back towards us.

“It sucks that were not allowed out of our rooms now.” Brielle complains. “I'm sooo bored.”

They climb up to Jett's bed. “What are you even doing up there anyway?”

“Why do you have that? You didn’t... You're just a little weird. You're not a killer. You just found that somewhere, right? You didn’t...”

“What’s going on?” I ask, already walking over. I'm tall enough to see into Jett's bed and what I see... “It was you.”

“Yeah, it was. So what?” Jett replies with not a hint of emotion.

“Why?” Brielle asks, sounding scared.

“He was hurting people, now he can't anymore.”

“Yeah, but...” neither of us are really sure what to say.

“You just do that? Kill people?”

“It was my job before I came here. Assassin. Does that scare you?”

“A bit. You just do that? Kill people no hesitation, what if they have a family? Would you kill anyone? What if they’re innocent?”

“This guy clearly wasn’t innocent. I have standards. I don’t kill children. Usually not women either. I was usually sent on jobs to kill men, corrupt politicians, abusive husbands, heads of big factories that mistreat their workers, that sort of thing.”

“I know we’re talking about this huge important serious thing but are we going to ignore Lysander’s accent?” Brielle interjects.

I've actively tried to unlearn my accent. I talk like a royal and I don’t like it. It's not even the word choice as much as it is just how I sound. I hate that I accidentally started speaking like that again.

“He sounds so posh and snobby.” Jett teases.

“Are we just giving up on the Jett murders people thing so fast?” I attempt to change the conversation.

“He only murders bad people. You sound so different. Why is that nobility in our kingdom have an accent anyway?”

“To distance themselves from the commoners. They made it up like a hundred years ago and royals have just talked like that ever since.” I make sure to stop myself from speaking with that ridiculous accent.

“That’s silly.”

“I know that’s why I try not to talk like that anymore.”