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Sasha had always been fond of the piano. She'd once had the opportunity to play one, and her papa had had a small collection of cassette tapes that he'd sometimes played. Piano, violin, cello, oboe. The sound from the little old radio he'd had was always a bit tinny, but it had added something to the music that had played. Sometimes when her papa had been sleeping, Sasha would take that little radio outside. She would sit in the sun, close her eyes and just breathe in the scent of a rich summer day.

Back in that time, things had been simple. In the here and now, things… well. They weren't simple anymore.

Her body still ached. For some reason her head did too. There was a lump on her crown, tender to the touch. What on earth had happened? Peering around the room, Sasha couldn't help but admire the little knick-knacks and baubles that decorated the cave. Was she still dreaming?

Sasha narrowed her eyes as her gaze landed on the shadowy figure that coaxed such lovely music from the strange piano. She felt like she was in a strange land of whimsy, and quite honestly, she much preferred it to writhing in agony on the ground outside of the school.

The ground outside of the school. She could only vaguely recall being swooped up by a shadowed stranger. Everything after that was a blur of nothingness.

Checking to make sure her head wasn't bleeding, Sasha cleared her throat softly before calling out a gentle, "H-hello?"

Sasha's lips pulled down in a slight frown at the polite smile that she received. Soon thereafter she was swinging her legs over the side of the bed so that she could rise to her feet. She wobbled in place for a brief moment before she slowly, slowly started to shuffle forward.

She did not appear to be distressed by the fact that there were no apparent exits.

"I'm dreaming, aren't I?" Sasha was convinced that was exactly what was going on here. This was just a little too surreal to be anything other than a dream. Her lack of fear or trepidation would attest to this.

"Are all of these instruments yours?"

She hobbled past the piano and glanced over the instruments, searching for the long, slender shape of a flute. The piano song that the figure had started to play was breathtakingly lovely, and Sasha found herself idly humming along when the tune repeated itself.

There was a certain freedom that could be found only in dreams. Inhibitions were laid by the wayside which oftentimes led to things happening that usually might not. This was one of those times, and one of those exact situations.

Sasha was also still covered in yuck, which … was kind of weird for a dream, considering how terrified she was of the act of yucking. Sometimes dreams were strange.

When the creature turned and gestured towards the dresses, Sasha's eyes brightened and she moved towards the clothes. Picking through them only took a moment; she reached for the frilliest, prettiest, pinkest one she could find. It didn't take long for her to be out of the soiled dress and into the fresh one. It was soft against her skin with a pretty bell skirt and cap sleeves, pale pink down to the white lace hem.

Most importantly, it was clean.

From behind the screen, Sasha immediately moved towards the dressing table. This place.. the music was beautiful, soothing as it flowed from the piano in passionate, rhythmic surges.

"I've … I've never worn a fragrance before."

Like a moth to a flame, Sasha reached out and sampled each one of the scents laid out before her. Each was lovlier than the last. She finally settled on one, dabbing it against her wrists before she moved back towards the piano-playing creature.

The music seemed to pulse in the air, and Sasha closed her eyes for just a moment, a ghost of a smile whispering across her lips before she opened her eyes once more, Sasha's attention once more drawn to the whimsical instruments displayed nearby.

"Do you have a.. a name?"

Sasha clasped her hands to her chest and stumbled back slightly when the shadowy figure rose and dashed away. As soon as the raspy, harsh sound of stone against stone filled the air, Sasha spun towards the sound with a rough intake of breath. Her eyes were wide when they landed on the doctor, her hands moving to cover her mouth.

The doctor…?

Blinking rapidly, Sasha took a few hesitant steps forward. Throughout all of this, the list, the concerns, everything - the doctor had been the one person she'd been yearning to talk to. She had every intent on throwing her arms around his waist in a hug.. but.. when the doctor spoke, Sasha froze in place. It was becoming increasingly clear that this was not some sort of wonderful dream -- if it had been, the doctor surely wouldn't have spoken in such a tone.

"I.. we.. we were at the school, sir, and .. Jerry. And Rin. And Bix and Wash, sir, and Jerry helped me out of the school and suddenly there was a .. a .. a shadowy man and I thought -- and the next thing I .. I thought I was dreaming. The dress and .. and the bed, and the perfumes.. and .. I'm."

She suddenly felt like she was on the verge of tears. Sasha smoothed her hands down the skirt of the dress, dropping her gaze for a brief second before she lifted her eyes to his face once more.

"What.. where am I? This.. it.. it isn't a dream?"

For a moment Sasha felt a shimmer of fear tickle down her spine. The lack of emotion on his face made her uncomfortable, to say the least, and Sasha wasn't sure what she should do. The pulse at Sasha's throat was thrumming wildly, visible beneath the delicate skin there. His touch - that touch - caused her to swallow dryly. Perhaps there was no comfort to be found in the touch of his palm against her cheek, and there were certainly no assurances there on his face. Just nothing upon nothing. Endlessly expressionless.

However, the instant his expression changed, Sasha immediately moved to wrap her arms around his torso. That was the expression she knew. That gentle voice, the soothing brush of his fingers against her ear. Pressing her face against his chest, Sasha gave a muffled sob.

"I don't even know… I don't even know where I am!"

She squeezed her eyes shut.

"…and I don't even know how I got here, sir! What is this place?"

If she shouldn't be here, he obviously knew where here was, right?

"And why are there.. dresses? And.. the piano, and the perfume, and the bed?"

She was quiet for a long moment, pulling away from him so that she could wipe her face clean of the salty tears that dampened her face.

Feeing rather disoriented, Sasha merely followed after the doctor. She clutched his hands in her own, a desperation in her grip. He was here, he was back. There would be answers. That was reassuring. Soothing, just like the brush of his fingers against her cheeks, wiping away her tears.

"It.. it was terrible. I don't .. I don't even want to come here again, I promise. I r-really, really promise. I don't even know why I .. why that thing brought me here. Do .. has this happened before?"

She gave a glance over her shoulder as they moved towards the exit, a soft smile flitting across her lips. No, she didn't want to come back to this place, but.. it had been a rather lovely visit. The perfume, the music, the pretty bed, the baubles, the dress…

"Oh, gosh," she froze in place, eyes widening with apprehension, "sir, ah. I ah. This dress isn't .. it doesn't belong to me. Mine is ah." Sasha cleared her throat loudly, mouth wrenching to the side.

"Over there. It's ah. Dirty."

She gave his hands a tight squeeze, her expression worried.

Sasha followed docilely behind the doctor, hovering closer to him as they were enveloped in pitch darkness. When he indicated the step, Sasha moved ahead with a thoughtful hum.

"It's a lovely room, sir. And the dress. All of the trinkets, too. Did she ah.." her cheeks burned in the dark, "did she play? Instruments, I mean. The shadow-thing that brought me here, it played the piano, and I saw the other instruments." She thought briefly about her flute. Doing so gave her pause, as she briefly remembered the discussion they'd had but never finished in Antarctica. Now probably wasn't the time.

"She sounds like a .. a lovely person, sir. Generosity is an important trait to have."

A pause.

"One gives freely, yet grows all the richer; another withholds what he should give, and only suffers want."

Sasha laughed softly.

"Proverbs. One of those you ah.. you never forget, sir."

Sasha fell silent for a long moment.

"What ah.. what was her name?"

Idle chatter was not something that Sasha was completely skilled at. She cleared her throat.

"You don't have to answer that, sir. Ah.. how was Somalia? And … and when can we talk about the list, sir? With Bix and Jerry?"

Ahh, Jerry. He was probably a wreck. Sasha sighed.