Danny focused for a moment on the bottle of pain relievers Ty had taken out. It took a powerful interior voice to not ask for one, or four. He'd finally gotten away from them and didn't want to go about it again, especially at such a time. It took a moment for Ty's voice to register, and the question to be understood. "Er, I'll come on up. Don't leave me in the dark!" He went forward and flitted through the doorway, taking the steps two at a time before pausing for Ty.

Danny feared being in the dark. Darkness invited sleep, and sleep too soon meant bad news beside bad dreams. "It'd probably be best to fall asleep as soon as possible." Danny added, recalling he hadn't answered Ty's other question. "Besides, I don't think I can last more than a couple more hours now." It was as though his body had built a tolerance for caffeine. Coffee and soda did absolutely nothing now.

Danny jolted up the final few steps, ducking into the apartment and closing the door behind him. He'd been here plenty of times, but now it seemed so surreal. He almost convinced himself it was another dream and this time, he could interact with and see Ty more straightforward than ever before. But the fact that he could consider the concept that this was a dream put his mind at ease. Perhaps this time around he'd know if it were a dream, though, if he and Ty consciously placed themselves in that situation.

When he closed the door, Danny placed himself on the floor. Considering many late nights in front of a computer, lying and sleeping on the floor made the slight ache vanish entirely. But he didn't allow himself to lie back yet. It was too risky---and he was too unprepared.

Danny turned his gaze up and sighed. "But my back hurts." He whined, accepting the helping hand nonetheless and standing. "I guess I've been over the computer too long the past few days." He added with a slight chuckle. "Distracting..." He nodded. "Well, go lead on. Can't think of a better time than any to face our worst fears..."

He almost shivered at those words. Facing one's fears, figuratively, wasn't nearly as imposing and terrible as literally going face to face with horribly grotesque renditions of real-life terrors. He didn't fear for himself so much as Ty---what if he had an asthma attack while asleep? What if he didn't wake up in response? Danny didn't even want to consider that idea. There was little else to do now.

Danny followed his young friend along, almost like a dog willing to go along with whatever this person wanted. Defeated, it seemed, he replied to half of what Ty said with a shake of the head, not quite understanding what was said. While his eyes wanted to see only darkness, his heart leapt in his chest, as if he were anticipating a visit from a much-hated family member. He knew the feeling all too well, and considered this sleep-invited demon to be just another person in his family he had to endure for a few hours. Only this time, instead of shaking with rage, he'd be shaking with fear.

"I don't have a preference." Danny said with a heavy tone as he understood his friend's 'which side' question. He considered for a moment, then stepped across the room, taking the side farther away from the door. Setting himself down, he fiddled with his shoes for a moment, managing to untie their laces after a frustrating moment. Before setting them by the wall near him, he checked their treads for any loose dirt or rocks---a habit of his since he disliked sweeping floors. Then he turned, falling back and pressing his hands to his eyes hard enough to let bursts of light explode in front of the darkness, pushing his glasses up onto his forehead. "God, I hope we can wake up..." He muttered. It was more to himself than Ty, but the words were a bit louder than he'd intended them to be.

Danny opened his eyes, blinking away the general blindness and flickering sparks in his vision. "I don't know what'll come with us into that world." He said. "If you put it in a pocket or hold it in your hand, maybe it'll come with you. We might be thrown into the world in different clothes, like what we've worn throughout our encounters with these terrors, and that means you won't have it. I've got a knife in my pocket right now, just in case, but it might not come with me when I'm there."

He ran a hand through his hair, now a nervous habit. "But you know, regardless of where we are, we might not appear in a shared dream at the same time. Or at all." He hid his face again and breathed out carefully. It was like they were sharing a circle of Hell all to themselves, keeping them barely alive and slowly maddening them. "If all this goes over, I'll have a hell of a lot to write about..." Danny laughed, a hollow sound, and calmed himself enough to close his eyes.

Danny ground his teeth. He'd gone several days, and now he couldn't quite settle down enough to actually sleep. He almost twitched at the sudden and slightly unknown touch, but instead, opened his eyes slightly. "Okay as it'll ever be." He muttered. He didn't necessarily think about his eyes closing, but they did. He didn't really focus anymore on anything beyond his range of hearing, of which there was little more than Ty's breathing and his own heart beating within his head, radiating from his chest.

He felt his limbs become heavy and didn't even mind anymore. He was sinking, almost, becoming less attached to the real world. Silence fell upon his ears, and only a slight thought crossed his mind. I prefer no dreams to horror...

Danny's eyes opened instantly. He was slightly blinded, then as things began to come into focus, he managed to feel around him. Hard surface... Rough. It felt like a road. Turning his head, Danny brought himself up on an elbow and was able to look around. He was lying in the middle of a road, and upon closer inspection, he recognized the road shaded by heavy oaks. Only now the leaves were shadowed in a dark black series of shadows, shrouded in mist, like the buildings so familiar to him. But they were so... ominous. And things were so silent. Not like the start of his dreams at all. Usually he was immediately swarmed by this or that, depending on the taste of the dream. But only silence, save a bit of whistling wind that didn't seem to rustle the leaves above him, could be heard. Ty's bookstore was just a few yards away.

Standing, Danny looked down. His feet had only socks. He wore the same jeans and light colored shirt he'd worn when he fell asleep, but no shoes because he'd taken them off. Reaching up, he found his glasses on his face. Sweeping his gaze along the street, he didn't see much more besides cars parked here and there. No lights. No Ty.

"Ty!" Danny's voice was oddly muffled in the bare area. Running, now, to the bookstore, he found the door stuck, but it cracked a bit around the jamb. It wasn't locked as much as it was stuck. Ramming it, Danny broke it free and stepped into the store. All the shelves were bare, except a couple books lying on the topmost shelf. But it didn't concern him as much as Ty's location. The most logical place would be here, or upstairs, or somewhere nearby. But these dreams were hardly logical. "Ty! Where are you, kid!? Can you hear me?" Here, his voice echoed despite the carpet and furniture. What if Ty were in his own dream, and he and Danny were separated? This was all Danny's fault, in the end. He had talked the kid into it. Panic enlivened him. "Ty! Ty!" He wove around the bookshelves; the floor was larger than he recalled.

Danny sighed, finally coming back to where he started. The floor was oddly elongated now, as if it were three times as large as it was in reality. Glancing around, he found the shelf that contained a couple books, only two, sitting side by side. Reaching up, he pulled them both down off the shelf and studied their covers. Both were his. Dark Descent and Memory Regained, books he'd written a couple years after Millie's death. He'd drawn the emotions conveyed in the books from his own still lingering guilt and spiral into depression, the hollow feeling of being completely and utterly alone, a bane on humanity. Yet the plots varied, and drew in horror and supernatural aspects to alter the reality of the happenings. The covers were red. That was odd---he'd specified dark purple backdrops, which was what he'd gotten.

He jumped hard at the sudden call above him. It was Ty. Ty! Dropping the books, Danny flew from between the shelves and looked around. Above him. Obviously Ty was in his apartment. But how had he not heard Danny? It was best not to question the logic of a twisted nightmare. He ran to the door leading to the stairwell, managing to open it and sprint up, opening the door to Ty's apartment. "Ty? You in here?" He stared around. Everything seemed to be viewed by a very old camera lens, gray and a bit grainy, fuzzy in a way even through Danny's glasses. "Ty...?"

Danny sighed in relief when Ty responded. At least they were in the same place now. But how could it be that Ty hadn't heard him? Had he not heard Ty before? He went around to the other side and sat, glancing at Ty as he fiddled around in the drawers of his bedside table. It didn't look like his inhaler was there, but... what was that? Paper? It obviously was to Ty's dislike, so Danny didn't ask about them. Instead, he put his head in his hands. What were they going to do now? Were they trapped in the dream? And why wasn't anything happening!? That was much more unnerving than anything else, to say the least.

"Danny." A voice called out, apparently from a distance. Glancing up, he looked around. Ty didn't seem to hear it, though it sounded like a young woman. Like Millie. He shook his head. Not her. She never appeared here. Not in his nightmares. While he didn't see her, the voice was all that was needed.

A smash sounded from the window outside, like that of heavy machinery falling to pavement. Gasping, Danny looked around, but things had become blurry. They faded, slowly, to black, and when he blinked, he found himself looking at the ceiling above him, once more through color-vision and lack of misty fog. He was awake. Sitting up, Danny took his glasses off and covered his eyes. Was that it?

Danny sat up and shook his head. It sounded like a garbage truck outside, beeping, smashing, voices yelling, then the brakes letting up before it went off again. "Damn. What a sound." He muttered. Reaching down, Danny grabbed his shoes and slipped them back on. "Yeah, that was me in the dream. I found you, but... I don't know. That was so... strange." He glanced around at Ty as he checked his alarm clock.

"I've never had these dreams go nowhere." He said. "It showed me my published books, then I heard Millie's voice. Then there was nothing because that... sound woke us both up." He fell backward, covering his eyes and glasses. "I guess I was right when I thought the dreams would occur simultaneously if we were asleep in the same area. But they must be... must be... toying. Toying with us." The fog of sleep had yet to lift, and suddenly it was right there again. Pushing. A weight on his chest calmed his racing heart, and dropped him back down out of reality.

Almost asleep. Danny had almost completely fallen through the veil until he was surprised by Ty's shout. He gasped slightly, lifting himself up as well as he could before relaxing. It was still difficult to calm himself, despite thinking that, perhaps, the dreams had become more quiet, lonely places. But not necessarily; they were still trying to toy with both of them. "Best thing... better to sleep. see if we can get to a conclusion." He muttered.

Now, he seemed not to care if the dreams killed him. He worried only for Ty. Were he to be taken down and trapped within this world that would destroy his mind, he hoped Ty would at least get out. He was still young and, despite having a physical problem that killed his first dream, he could find something else worthwhile to live for. Those ideas faded as, this time, Danny completely lost his will, and fell completely away from reality.

Here he was. In a world not of his own creation. Not of his own control. Something like reality, but things were so much more predictable in reality. So much more... real. Now... What could happen? Would they wake up as easily as they did last time? Danny's eyes were glassy as they stared at the pattern on the ceiling. It was gray. Not beige. Gray, like an old movie. He was back. But if he moved... something might happen. And if he moved, and Ty wasn't there... His jaw clenched.

A sudden shock sent him up, sitting stock still as he stared around. Nothing was there. Nothing had made a sound, nor had it moved. Glancing to his side, Danny sighed in relief that Ty was actually there. There, for once, and this time, not the Ty that would die horribly. Or at least, Danny hoped. Slowly, he stood on shaky legs and stretched. This time he had his shoes. Ty would most likely have his inhaler, making it a bit easier this time around for him. Unless something...

Danny shook his head. "Looks like we're back in Hell." He said flatly. He went to the window, glancing out. The street was there. But no trees were in sight.