Her feet were bare, her body cold as she made her way down the narrow, sterile hall; that opening scene alone was enough to alert her to the fact that she was dreaming... Yet try as she might, she couldn't shake herself awake, not even the pressure of a pinch against exposed arms enough to jolt her. "It's just a dream... Just a dream, Cordy. You just... Have to get through it and then you can wake up."

Cordelia Carden swallowed hard as she pressed on, shaky hand sliding along the wall to guide her through the dark for what seemed like forever. The chill continued to follow her along with the ominous feeling that there were eyes watching her. This theme seemed to repeat, no matter what the dream. She was always being watched... And she was always alone.

"A little light would be nice." She muttered bitterly as her fingers curled around what she believed to be the corner of a wall at the crossroad of intersecting halls, blinded seconds later as she stepped forward into a room that was most certainly not a continuation of the dark hall she had been walking down. One hand came up to shield her eyes as she peered around the circular room, brow furrowing as her vision adjusted. Pedestals? Why would a round room be filled with...

Her gaze continued to rise until eyes settled on the first cloaked figure. Something about this scene was familiar, at least, and became even more so as she turned on the balls of her feet. Each pedestal was of a varying height; each one not really a pedestal but a strange throne-like seat with a high back... And in each seat there sat a figure cloaked in a black hooded robe. She might have laughed at her mind's creation had it not felt so ominous, and had the first figure not dropped their hood just as the corner of her lips twitched in the slightest smirk.

"... Ume?" Cordelia froze at the piercing stare she was receiving from the girl she knew to be one of her dearest friends; one of the few female friends that she could actually stand being around outside of school. That stare, that feeling of absolute loathing was not something she had ever come to associate with the dark haired girl.

The other cloaked figures seemed to follow Ume's lead, one by one dropping their hoods to reveal their 'true natures' until she stood facing those that she had let past her inner walls; the few that she considered 'friends'. Ume, Demy (with Zac sitting in the throne beside him, their fingers idly interlocked although both were too busy staring her down to acknowledge the fact), Imogen... Eridanus...

While Ume's appearance had startled her it was the last that made her eyes sting with bitterness, gaze finally lowering as she swayed on her feet before taking an awkward step back. She would have fled back down the hall, disappeared forever into the darkness to wander the halls for an eternity if it meant escaping those looks. They were supposed to be her friends. He was supposed to be her teammate...

Ume brought her slender hand up and the door (one that she hadn't even known was there) slammed behind her. Her knees went weak and her entire body must have trembled because she could feel their eyes all on her again... And laughter. Demy's laughter. "Who's the freak now, Dolly?"

Her fingers curled into fists, jaw setting firmly as she lifted her eyes to meet her mocker. It seemed that they had all shed their robes now, each and every one of them now wearing a distinct uniform. A distinct militaristic uniform. "No..."

"Yes. Can't you just see what you're missing out on, Dolly? We're all here... Everyone you cared about, everyone you loved. No one can stand you... Right?" She saw Demy's brow quirk as he tilted his head towards Zac, looking for some sort of confirmation; a pat on the back (or on the a**).

"Demy..." She could feel her nails digging crescents into her palms as she clenched her hands tighter, refusing to let him get to her. Not here. Not in her own dream.

"Lieutenant, Dolly. It's Lieutenant when you address me, or any of the others in this room. Especially me, though. I told you I'd get even." The smirk on his face was unlike anything she had ever seen on Demetri Wright's face before. Never in all the time that they had known each other had he looked at her as though she was little more than gum stuck to the bottom of his shoe.

It hurt. It hurt more than she had ever thought it would.

"What's wrong, Cordelia? Is the truth really that hard to face?" The voice that addressed her now was calm and collected, hardly different from the voice she knew. This one, at least, she had expected the contempt from. It was the same contempt that she'd been faced with upon their first meeting.

"You... You little..." She sneered at Zac, Z, Lieutenant Whoeverthehell only to find her words cut short by a hand at her throat, the action nearly choking her as her eyes blurred momentarily, drawn back only by the sound of another familiar voice.

"Cordelia... So that's your name." The closeness of the voice made her knees weak and for a moment she was almost willing to forget that this was a nightmare; that the source of the voice was trying to harm her. "You know... I'd wondered about it. Wondered about you... But you wouldn't even let me get close. At least not this close..." Before she knew it the fingers were sliding away from her throat and slowly down her arm, replaced by lips that caught her off guard, playing out like a scene from a cheap romance novel until she felt something plunge into her chest.

Full lips formed a shocked 'o', eyes wide at the breath-stopping pain as they met a gleaming crimson gaze. "Ume... Why?" Cordelia wasn't certain as to whether or not the words made it past her lips, but that was what she had wanted to say. Why? The questioned echoed in her head unspoken, again and again...

"Because, Cordy. This is what you wanted, isn't it? To have friends, to never be alone. This is the cost. This is the price you have to pay." Those words were the last she could clearly recall hearing before she felt a sharp yank, the television screen of her mind showing a decidedly proud look on Nega!Ume's face as her starseed was ganked free.

Somewhere in the background she could've sworn Demy was saying 'Lemme see! Lemme see!'. Zac would have shoved him... Or taken him by the hand to guide him down to Ume's side like a parent showing a child how to approach a fish tank for the first time... And Eridanus? Eridanus...

...

"Eridanus!" She sat up quickly, hand instantly coming up to rest on the center of her chest where she could still feel the ache as though she were no longer whole. Her hand then drifted up to her throat where she was certain there was a bruise... Why had it been so real this time? Why...

Her brow furrowed as her eyes drifted across the room to the glowing numbers on her clock, a soft curse parting her lips as the digits changed. "Oh, no... No... I'm late!"