Manic Memory or Mystic Meadow?

“So… I’ve been dreaming.”

This was said so matter-of-factly that neither Jackal nor Calcifer paused their meal to look at the mysterious succubun that had taken residence in Jackal’s flat for the past week. Quietly—and in their best attempt to keep their hand from shaking too much—they set down the teacup they held (that was part of a tea set that looked much too out of place for Jackal’s flat AND budget… let’s say, “Thank You Calcifer”) and looked up at the two other buns, wearing a mildly dour face.

“… and I assume your dream was not of the pleasant nature, Mystic Misty?” Calcifer fiddled with the fork in his mouth, and Jackal did her best to hold back a snort.
“Heh… ‘pleasant nature’…” The grin showed quite vividly through Jackal’s tone, and she wiggled her eyebrow at Misty.
“Leader Jackal, do not put thoughts into this Mystic’s mouth!” Calcifer adopted a half-teasing tone, using that same fork to launch a meatball Jackal’s way; it beaned her right in the middle of her forehead, and she made a hiss akin to one from an angry furdin.
“For a bookworm, you sure can’t read between the lines…”
“Oh I think I read your lines quite fine, Leader.”

“What Calcifer said — I think I’ll be taking my words back now, thank you very much.” Despite how serious her expression was, Misty couldn’t help but break into a smile at the scene. They giggled for a brief moment more before their face returned to that same, worried expression. “Ah, but well… no, I’ve definitely been dreaming.” They paused for a beat… seeing that they had the attention of the other two, they continued. “I can’t remember much of them—it’s all a blur, you see—but… I have this feeling that they’re from my memories. Flowers, brightness… clouds? Like… a place where you can sit and feel the wind… or something like that. I can’t quite elaborate, my head’s been hurting a little too much…”
“Fret not about the details, Mystic! The general picture is what one of my station needs to positively affirm you!” Calcifer pounded a fist against his chest as Jackal reached over to pat Misty’s shoulder. She looked at Cal with a questioning expression.
“Affirm…?”
“Indeed, Leader! I have read in many a book about the occult and forlorn… These visions received by Mystic Misty can be nothing BUT communication from a different plane of existence! Nay, it cannot be anything BUT FAE—”

“Oh come ON, DUDE. That can’t be it — there’s caverns and shit that have clouds and wind going through ‘em, maybe that’s what you’re remembering? Ignore Danny, it’s all tall tales with him.” Jackal turned Misty’s shoulders towards herself, against the silent protesting from Calcifer; any time he tried to interject, she’d shoot him a look that’d shut him up.
“Well maybe he has some points… I feel like there’s something I’m forgetting, so maybe it’s…” Misty twiddled their fingers, but Jackal shook her head.
“Nah, nope, and no-siree; don’t give that guy any merit, he’ll take a mile when you hand him an inch. In any case we’ll find out what’s what when we go investigate that circle or whatever… here.” As Cal pouted, Jackal stood and started grabbing up the used plates. “I’ll get this, you sit here and rest up.” Before either Misty or Cal could protest, Jackal was off… and Misty turned to Calcifer with a sheepish smile.

“Maybe it could be fae… who knows.”
“Leader Jackal is right, Mystic Misty. Drawing conclusions too early is a… common folly of my being; I do not wish to undermine your situation with my… personal investigations.” Calcifer awkwardly trailed off, but Misty simply nodded.
“Thank you for your concern… but really, your ‘personal investigations’ are what let the two of you obtain all the information we have now, so… I think you’re at least a little entitled to some speculation. We’ll be finding out quickly enough, so…” They shrugged their shoulders the best they could.
“Yes, I guess so. Now please don’t hesitate to take a small rest, Mystic… I have the oddest feeling that Leader Jackal will wring my horns if I cause you more headache.”
“Hehehe… yeah, I’ll do that. Thank you… thank the both of you.”

With an affirmative noise from Calcifer, the two settled in and waited for Jackal to be done with the dishes…

…

Jackal dons her jacket, Misty dons their cloak, and Calcifer dons his cape as the trio head out into the cold winter night. Tracing the path back wasn’t all that difficult save for the tricky patch of ice that Calcifer nearly slipped on… oops. After a brief round of assurances of wellbeing, though… None of the buns in this odd party felt apt to speak about anything, really. Perhaps it was the quietness of this area of Burrowgatory… or perhaps it was the wariness that whatever they were “looking for” would disappear if they acted too rashly. Nonetheless they continued in their relative quietness… that is, until a misplaced step from Misty led them tottering into Jackal’s side.

“Woah!” Placing hands on their shoulders, Jackal propped Misty up against herself with a worried look on her face. “Misty…”
“Mystic Misty! Are you quite alright?!” Even if this bun tried to keep quiet, the sound of Calcifer’s voice still resounded through the treeline with an astounding amount of energy.
“You two… yes, yes I’m alright. It’s… it’s just… we’re close, and… There’s something there, beyond my reach… the wings…” Misty stretched an arm out towards the nearby clearing—the clearing they’d been traveling to—and they wobbled forward with Jackal’s help. Instantly both Calcifer and Jackal’s heads were swiveling around, looking for anything that Misty may be talking about.

“What? What wings? Where? Where do you see it?” Jackal looked to where their hand reached outward, then around again in dismay.
“A little further…” The pain in Misty’s voice was evident, and the two other buns present looked at each other in increasing levels of worry.
“… do you have anything? C’mon man, do some fairy mumbo-jumbo if you’re so convinced—” Jackal growled, and Calcifer started patting his pockets down in a hurry.
“J-Just one moment, I think—OH RIGHT!”

As the group made their way into the clearing completely, Calcifer dug his hand into his pocket and produced that shimmering feather they’d taken from Mercy’s office… and THIS time, it shined with the intensity of a thousand tubes of glitter. At the sight of it Mercy whimpered once more, causing Jackal to frown.
“Oh great, dipshit! Yeah okay, the disco feather’s gonna help us! Totally! Now put it away, we’re BLIND over here!” Jackal’s exasperated tone came out clear as she used a hand to shield her eyes.
“W-W-Well, I don’t really have anything else on me, and I r-really don’t know what else could—”

“The records!”

A sudden exclamation from Misty shocked the both of them; they stepped forward—past Jackal, past Calcifer—easily prying the shimmering feather from betwixt a surprised Cal’s hands before collapsing to their knees before the glowing circle as its light began to swell. Wordlessly Jackal and Calcifer looked at each other, and each attempted to move forward to Misty’s side before they simply held their hands out… as if saying that they had the situation under control. They threw a look over their shoulder—resolute, despite the tears in their eyes—and… smiled.

“I… I remember. I remember everything. Dove is my name, and I… I… I’ve learned the truth!!”

They held the feather in their hands upward; it was as if a beam of light suddenly burst from it, beaming to the top of Burrowgatory… no, THROUGH the top of their little world as they knew it. It was truly blinding; Calcifer and Jackal—as they held their loose clothes in front of them, desperately trying to shield their eyes—almost couldn’t see the shape of the halo above Dove’s head through all the light.

“FUCK YOU MELANGEL!”

And after Dove’s loud proclamation, the world faded to white…

…

Calcifer wasn’t really sure what to expect afterward… so, getting flashbanged really WAS kinda like how they showed it in video games. Good… good to remember for later, probably. Prying his eyes open after the fact was an active effort on his part; the world was bright… much too bright, in fact. Before he fully opened his eyes he pushed himself up, the soft grass beneath his hands giving way easily…

Huh? Soft… grass? Wasn’t it the dead of winter — grass shouldn’t be this nice…
Finally managing to get his eyes open wide enough to see properly, Calcifer looked up.

A gentle wind blew through, sending the grass and white flowers rustling happily in the breeze. Quickly Calcifer brought a hand up to grip his cape so as not to lose it, but the wind wasn’t nearly violent enough to do that… no, it wouldn’t ever do that in this place. His face was a perfect blend of horror, discomfort, and amazement as his gaze went higher, higher, higher… the sky’s BLUE? CLOUDS? There’s no CEILING?! This… this was just like those places that some of the books he read described. No way. No fucking way. Calcifer scrambled forward to the edge of the little patch of grass he woke up in and carefully ran his hand through one of the cloudy hills. Dense… wet… ah, it burned a little. Cal’s hand reeled back and he used his other hand to attempt to rub the discomfort out of his eyes (to no avail, of course) before turning his head to the side.

“Jackal… Jackal!” Gone was the ‘regal-ness’ in Calcifer’s voice… This was Daniel speaking now. Danny whispered Jackal’s name as he crawled over to her face-down form in the grass, giving her shoulders a hearty shake until she eventually stirred.
“Whuh… Calcifer…?”
“Shhh, shhhhhhh — Jackal… Jackal get up, please; it’s all real, it’s all fucking real, the books were right, they were all right! Everyone who called me dumb when I was a little bun was wrong and they should feel bad but I’m not feeling too well and hhhhaaa… Jackalllllllll—”
“Calm… ugh, calm down… bookworm.” Holding her head with one hand, Jackal used her other hand to prop herself up with Daniel’s shoulder. “I… I don’t feel the greatest either, but… ugh. Getting worried isn’t gonna do anything about — wh… what the fuck… is this…” With her eyes finally open—thanks to Daniel giving her one of his handkerchiefs to wipe her eyes with—Jackal’s expression was quite similar to Danny’s as she looked at their surroundings.

“The… fuck…” Jackal could only whisper that for a solid thirty seconds as Danny grabbed at her shoulders as if she were a lifeline.
“I was right, I was right, see?! I-I-I have no clue how we can bring anything back as proof, but we HAVE TO — people need to KNOW about this, we can’t keep quiet! We—”

At that particular moment, the both of them shut their mouths. We… there was one more to this ‘we’, right? They looked at each other wordlessly, then began to scan their surroundings as they wobbled to their feet. That latent air of disorientation made it quite hard to keep steady… but Dove might be in danger. They—

“Dove, there you are! Oh I’ve been worried sick about you!”
“Ugh, stop — stop that! Let me down! You know what you’ve done, Melangel!”
“First I hear such vulgar language, next you’re being so disagreeable… my my, what has gotten into you, my little Dove?”

Turning towards the commotion, Daniel and Jackal took in the sight in front of them. Having apparently come from a little cottage off in the near distance, a towering feathered figure had scooped a feisty-looking Dove into their arms… but after seeing Dove fight back against their embrace they let Dove down… The look on their face was akin to the look that a disappointed superior would give to their silly little junior. Dove—however—did not give an inch… it didn’t seem like they were very keen on backing down.

“You can’t hide what you’ve done for much longer…” Their scowl was deep set… though the tips of their ears twitched as they heard the grass rustle behind them.
“My lovely little Dove, I’m not quite sure what you… oh, EUGH. What is that?” The disgust on this angel’s face was clear and QUITE obviously unhidden; they pointed a mocking finger at Daniel and Jackal’s approaching forms… and only then did Dove turn around and run to their sides.

“D-Dove…” Jackal’s voice was weak as she fell to her knees, and Dove placed their hands on Jackal and Daniel’s shoulders as they collapsed.
“A-are you… okay?” Danny added, worry rattling his voice as he clung onto Jackal’s sleeve.
“It’ll all be okay, you guys. Try not to move too much, it might get better if you take a moment to adjust…” Dove’s voice was gentle and even as they attempted to smile; it was apparent that they were doing their best to keep the both of them calm. But… Dove’s face quickly turned back into a scowl as a loud scoff came from the being that looked down upon them.

“Not only do these demonic pests feel like infesting our meadow, they decide to touch you with their soiled hands. Dove, come here. Get away from those disgusting little things—” Melangel reached a hand out towards Dove to pull them away, but with a vicious jerk Dove slapped it away.
“They are not disgusting, nor are they ‘little’ or ‘things’! They are citizens of Burrowgatory, they are people… they are my friends and they are important to me! I brought them here, Melangel — I’ve been to Burrowgatory!” Now Dove standed proud, arms outstretched in front of Jackal and Daniel in an act of protection as Melangel’s expression oscillated between abject horror and utter disgust.
“Darling, what have they done to you? Look at how they’ve polluted your mind… you’re just a little confused, that’s all. Come now, leave them be to their degeneracy and come—”

“NO! I won’t! I… I… I’ve spent enough time down there to know that I belong there! I’m not in the wrong, I’m not polluted — there may be bad people down there, but there are just as many good people… like my friends here! I won’t go! I belong with them!”
“Oh, Dove…”

At that moment, time seemed to come to a halt; the wind that rustled the grass even seemed to pause as the world around them held its breath. As Melangel—radiating with an emotion that the buns beneath them couldn’t quite comprehend from their expression—reached with their hands outstretched towards the brave Dove that protected the two of them, Jackal and Daniel could only watch in horror, confusion, and anticipation. Even if either wanted to move, they were much too weak… and could only exchange looks of abject terror as they waited to see what was to come of this “final encounter”.