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It had been three days and Nikolai remained in his slumber, resting on his cushioned bed like some twisted version of a princess. He looked peaceful, but that wasn't his usual style. There was no teasing grin, no bedroom eyes, just an average man sleeping steadily.
Aysun stood at the edge of the bed, gripping the bedsheets as she stared at the figure. Uncle Leon came home the other night with a really tired look on his face and weird rips in his shirt. When he got home Uncle Nikki was with him and was asleep too. Nothing she did seemed to wake Uncle Nikki up. She shook his shoulder, played loudly around him, even hid in a corner to wait for him to get up to go to the bathroom.
But he didn't.
Uncle Nikki never moved and Uncle Leon wouldn't explain why.

Aysun pried her eyes off of Nikolai long enough to look at her tired uncle. "Uncle Nikki wanted to take me shopping." she said as she looked back at the sleeping man. "He said he knew where to find the prettiest dress. He can take me when he wakes up, right?" She reached a hand out to nudge his shoulder, still getting no reaction.

"How ironic that the King of Dreams is stuck in a never-ending dream." came a quiet voice. Aysun turned around to see a man looming over them, his gaze to Nikolai. He was dressed like the people that went to the fancy dances in her story books. He had a mysterious and shining mask over his face with white hair slicked back. The girl immediately moved to Leon's side, clinging to him as a shield.
Catching the movement, the masked man turned his head to look at the girl that shrank more under his stare. Despite his scary appearance she could feel a kind of kindness coming from him. He suddenly looked over his shoulder and moved a gloved hand towards it, where a crow climbed onto his finger. He moved his hand to let the crow caw in front of his face then flickered his wrist, letting the bird fly around and land on top of Aysun's head. She stiffened and shook her head at first, and though the crow hopped he landed right back on top of her, ruffling his feathers. Realizing that nothing would hurt her, Aysun apprehensively lifted a hand to poke the bird, giggling at the caw she got in response.

Chaos's frost blue eyes moved to Leon, a flash of sympathy in them. "A chance to kill someone without sending them to Heaven or Hell, a coma incapable of waking up from. Or what was it he called it? Complete Apathy?" He turned to look at the sleeping figure, his arms folded behind his back. "As he is now he won't wake up. The poison in his body is strong and moves with his blood. But it is a coma, and waking up from one isn't unheard of." He glanced back at Leon, only briefly. "You fought the afterlife for him. Are you willing to fight through his memories?"

Holding the curiously cawing crow in her arms, Aysun nodded and ran off to see what Grandma was cooking.
Chaos waited for her to leave before talking. "Whether you wake him up or not depends solely on you." he answered vaguely while continuing to watch Nikolai. "This reminds me of an early host of Sloth's, you know. She preferred to stay asleep and work from the Dream World. However, True Love's kiss can't break what strong bindings Fate threads around you." He slowly motioned a hand towards the bed. "Find a position comfortable to you and close your eyes. I've arranged for someone to guide you around the dreams. He seems anxious to meet you." he said with a knowing chuckle.

"The shadows will watch over her, although I wouldn't be too worried about her. She's full of surprises." Something glinted in Chaos's eyes, but he moved before Leon could pinpoint them. He waved a gloved hand over Leon's face. Darkness began to grow at the edges of the teacher's vision, blurring his sights until he was unconscious.

In the darkness between reality and dreams, there stood one person. He seemed to glow like some kind of beacon through the darkness.
"Goodness, but you are slow. Coming from me that's saying something." cooed a familiar voice. But it wasn't that reassuring a familiar voice. It was Sloth, using Nikolai's look and purposely giving the violet-haired man a teasing grin. If anything his look was a cruel joke for Leon. "Welcome to the Dream World, dearie. I'll be your oh-so extravagant guide through it. Please keep your hands to yourself~" he purred and turned around to walk forward in the vast blackness.

"You're aware of how people wake up from comas, yes?" mused Sloth from over his shoulder. "Science aside, people go through dreams. We have to find Nikolai in his dreams and convince him to wake up. The only problem is that he doesn't have dreams, just flashbacks of his memories."
His voice faded back into silence as they kept walking. It felt like hours, maybe even days. It was so hard to tell time when there was nothing to compare or monitor. Suddenly there came a crunching noise. Sloth looked down and picked up his foot, seeing flattened grass beneath him. He looked up to see several patches of grass in front of them. "His earliest memories should be ahead." he told Leon and carried on.

"Before he met you, before he met me, before he even met Grigori." grinned Sloth. The patches of grass spread farther, and soon a dusky light scared away the darkness to show their new scenery.
A small town that was muted by the wind. The few signs placed in front of buildings were written in Russian. There were Soviet soldiers stationed every few blocks, some talking amongst themselves and others monitoring people's every movement. Large factories bordered the town and colored the sky with its smog. Inside one of those factories was Nikolai, his hair a soft brown and his tired eyes hazel as he watched conveyor belts and worked machinery. He was younger, looking to be in his late teens, though the exhaustion on his face aged him.
"Ah yes, I've seen this myself a few times." mused Sloth as he stared at his host's early appearance, a hand on his cocked hip. "This was his father's job. Did you know that, dearie? If he's here then it must mean it's a memory from after his father's sickness."