Dream dialogue stolen from Robin #57. Not an exact match because a)dreams don’t work that way and b)plot purposes. Follows immediately after the last scene of the first fic.

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Mythotix froze in the middle of cutting down another heartless, staring after the man who shared the field with them. Oblivious to the sword-wielding heartless swiftly approaching.

“Mytho, down!” Nixphetaes yelled, one of her long handled knives slicing through the stomach of a heartless. She snatched the released heart before it could disappear, and went still herself. This-

This was Mythotix’s heart, pulsing strongly in her hands. She knew it as she knew Mythotix’s face. Moving on autopilot, she hid the precious object under her coat, against her chest where her own heart should be. She had to- had to-

“Nix, time to go!” Mythotix grabbed her hand and tore open a corridor of darkness. They ran, adrenaline filling her veins with a facsimile of emotion.

They exited in the town square of Twilight Town, and Mythotix collapsed, panting. Nixphetaes leaned against the fountain, bracing herself on the wide lip.

“What-” Nixphetaes gasped., “What was that about, Mytho?”

Mythotix groaned and allowed his head to fall backwards. “I recognized that man. I think he recognized me.”

“Shit,” Nixphetaes swore. Mythotix’s heart pulsed against her chest. If she gave it to Mythotix, if he became a somebody again, would he leave her? Go find that man who’d looked at Mythotix like he’d known him? Would he leave her? Something in her chest spasmed at the thought.

Mythotix had said he didn’t want his heart back, Nixphetaes justified. So it didn’t really matter where it was, did it? Whether it was incarnated in a heartless, or hidden in Nixphetaes’ pocket. Right?

“What’s with the long face, Nix?” Mythotix asked, brow wrinkling.

“Do you think he’ll come after you?” Nixphetaes asked. That was close enough to her original worry.

Mythotix raised his eyebrows. “How would he manage that? It’s not like somebodies can walk the corridors without getting turned by the heartless.”

Nixphetaes nodded reluctantly. That was true- no matter how much her mind insisted it was a mistake to dismiss the man that easily. By the crease of Mythotix’s brow, he was being visited by similar thoughts.

She parted ways with him uneasily, and retreated to her bedroom. She took out Mythotix’s heart, and slid it into her pillow case. Safe, for now. She’d find a better place for it in the morning.

That night, she dreamed. She and Mythotix sat on a ledge overlooking a shadowed city, as lightless and deadly as the Dark City below the Castle That Never Was.

“I still feel weird about calling you Robin. You know, as your name,” Nixphetaes said, glancing at Mythotix from under her heavy hood.

“Could be worse,” Mythotix said, grinning at her. “At least Robin is a name.”

Nixphetaes clutched her stomach, giggling helplessly. “Imagine if I had to call you Nightwing. Or Batman.”

“Or ‘Green Lantern, my darling!” Mythotix suggested, snickering.

Nixphetaes snorted, laughing. “You made me snort, you creep!”

Mythotix clung to a gargoyle to keep from falling over. “No, no, I’ve got one- ‘I love you… Aquaman’!”

Nixphetaes cackled.

She woke up, the shadows of true amusement chasing her into the waking world. Nixphetaes immediately sat up, and reached into the pillow case. Nothing. Mythotix’s heart was gone. She felt a stab of panic, and then another, deeper one, as she realized she was feeling something.

“Oh, shit,” Nixphetaes swore.