Grains of sand trickled through the darkness, until slowly, but finally, the ever-surrounding darkness grew lighter and lighter. Underneath the specks of yellow buildings began to form, streets and cars, and eventually people. The grains littered the streets of Destiny City, drifting through the alleyways, over the tops of buildings, until finally the last grain of sand touched upon the tabletop of one Eve Summers.

Delphine sat there on the table, watching Eve eat her supper through glazed, distant blue eyes. How funny that Eve ate her food… prettily. She would spin pale noodles around her fork, and even the dark red sauce obeyed the girl’s will by not dripping. When she ate, it was never so much that she had trouble swallowing, nor did she have to open her mouth to grind up the noodles and sauce. Eve Summers was as prim and proper as Delphine made her out to be.

With a flick of her wrist, Delphine checked the time. “Hey, Eve,” she glanced back up to the girl, her lips turning down into a disapproving frown when Eve proceeded to ignore her. “Eve, what is your problem? We have a meeting, and you are going to be late. I will blame it on you if Rea gets her panties in a bunch.” Again Eve ignored her, even though Delphine was sitting right in front of her, on the table that she ate her food upon. Delphine’s cheeks flushed with anger, and unthinking she reached out to take hold of Eve’s face, to make her teammate pay attention to her.

Her fingers dusted across Eve’s face, and to her horror she watched as the tips of her fingers dissolved at the touch. They fell apart, back to what they had begun as – sand. She recoiled from horror, the hand that was still whole seizing hold of her arm. “Stop!” she yelled, voice panicked as her limb continued to break down. It infected the rest of her body, creeping up to her torso at an agonizingly slow pace. “Stop, stop!” she was screaming now. In her desperation, she turned to Eve, begging her teammate for aid.

“Help me, please! E-Eve, I’m sorry! Eve! Eve!”

The girl continued to eat her dinner with a peaceful look upon her face. She did not raise gaze or hand to help save Delphine, and for minutes this dragged on. Delphine begged, and Eve did not spare her glance. Delphine begged until her lips turned to dust. The last thing she saw was Eve picking up her empty plate and walking over to the sink to wash it clean.

She was sand again, to be carried by the wind and the will of her nightmare.

She reformed in her own living room, perched upon the back of her couch. Her horror from being with Eve had died away, lost to memory. Now she was looking at the television, watching the channels flip by, and that drew her attention to the man sitting on her couch. Turning her head down, she stared into a thick mess of dark hair, coiling like rope down the frame of the man’s face, over his dark shoulders. A teasing grin tugged at her lips, “I think you have a bug infestation in your hair, Khaldun. Remind me to disinfect my couch.”

The man didn’t respond, instead lifting a lit cigarette to his mouth to take a short drag. Delphine’s eyes narrowed and she spoke up again with a sharp note. “You know there’s no smoking in the house, man. There’s only so many times I can blame it on my dad.” She was trying to be reasonable, and she afforded Khaldun more leniency than other people. Of course, her leniency wouldn’t last long if Khaldun continued to ignore her. With an irritated sigh she slid off the back of the couch, rounding the furniture to stand in front of her friend (and effectively blocking his view of the television).

She practically choked with horror at the sight. Damon’s damned devil puppy was sitting right next to Khaldun, attempting to give the man the bath he sorely needed, licking happily at his hand as he sifted through the channels. “What the hell?” Was Khaldun affording a puppy more attention than her? She was talking right to him, standing right in front of him, and yet he seemed to look through her to the television still. “Look, I have no problem with you smoking in the house, but my mom will throw a royal b***h fit. You can even take the goddamned puppy outside with you – it seems to like you enough.”

He didn’t even look to her.

And her patience was wearing thin. She watched him, he was watching the television, the television was glaring back at the puppy, and the puppy was staring adoringly up at Khaldun’s face. Delphine wasn’t even a part of the equation. “You know what? ******** you, if you’re going to ignore me, get out of my house and go back to your stingy dorm!” She hated this, hating being ignored, especially over a puppy she didn’t even like.

“Hey a*****e, listen to me!” She reached out with the intent to grab his shoulders, to shake some sense into him (even though he was larger than her, and probably stronger too). But, as soon as the tips of her fingers entered Khaldun’s breathing space it happened again. Instead of reeling back, she pressed forward. Her hands grabbed either side of Khaldun’s face. She tried to catch his dark gaze with her own, blue eyes pleading with him to give her just enough attention to save her. If he just looked at her, if his gaze just met her own, she knew it would stop. She would be saved.

He could save her, and he wasn’t! “Khaldun, please!” She knew it then. He didn’t care enough for her to save her.

She shoved away from Khaldun, stumbling backwards in her panic. “Damon!” she started to scream her brother’s name. If her friends would not help her, her brother would. Her brother was always there by her side, to protect her even when she didn’t want to be protected. By now her arms had turned to sand, and the process was eating away at her shoulders with a growing appetite. Running up the stairs, she met her brother in the hallway.

He had just exited the bathroom, a towel tied around his waist, his damp black and blue hair clinging to the sides of his face. He seemed unconcerned, even when Delphine moved to intercept him. “Damon, please! Help me, no one else will. You have to! Please!” He paused, and just for an instant she thought he was looking at her, gaze sympathetic. “Thank you—“ she began as Damon stepped forwards to her, to help her, to save her…

He walked through her.

She fell apart, her entire body exploding into a cloud of gritty sand that was warded by some invisible force away from her brother’s body. A breeze picked her up again, to carry her to her next destination. It was a never-ending journey of disappointment and pain. Every person she turned to for attention and rescue, in kind turned away from her. The state of being nothing was preferable to this. When she was the sand, she had nothing. When she was Delphine, she could have something, but was never able to seize it for herself. It was better to have nothing than to have what she desired waved in front of her face, just out of her reach.

The faces grew more obscure, until she stood in front of a boy she had met but once. “Do what you want,” she spoke hoarsely to Barnaby Price and his dog, Minnie Mouse. Delphine sat on the ground, staring at the pair with undeniable longing. “I will be right here when you want to talk to me.” A part of her knew they would never turn their gazes her way. But, just in case, she would be right here on this little patch of grass, until her body turned to dust from old age, to be carried upon the winds of fate once again…