Pet Shop Of Horrors Fan Fiction ❯ Tuatha de D ❯ chapter 2 ( Chapter 2 )

Title: "Tuatha da D"

Author: Mistress of the Sword

Archived: PSoH Fanfiction Group

Chapter 3/?

Chapter finished: 02/11/05

Rating: PG 13 (subject to change if story progresses)

Disclaimer: still stands

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Before he could quite decide electric blue eyes snapped open, and Leon lurched back into a sitting position.

“Wait a minute! If this is my dream what the hell are you doing here D?!”

“Were you dreaming of me? I’m flattered.”

Leon blinked. Then blinked again. He was back at the pet shop with D staring at him over a tea cup with his twisted little smile.

“D? What happened?”

“Happened? Nothing happened. You fell asleep before we could even get into our regular argument,” D sounded almost disappointed, but his amusement was obvious.

Jerk.

“Have you not been sleeping well lately, Mr. Detective? Perhaps you should drink some chamomile before you go to bed. It will help you relax.”

“I wasn’t dreaming of you D, I was dreaming about him.”

“And yet you woke with my name on your lips,” D murmured quietly into his cup, taking a delicate sip.

“He’s always there asking me if I want a ride and-what?!” Leon’s indignant screech trailed off into incoherent spluttering as D’s words finally registered through his complaints.

“Was it a pleasant dream Detective?” D interrupted again smoothly- his voice a soothing, seducing croon.

Leon was convinced his face could light up Vegas, as glowing red as it became at the Count’s suggestive words. He glared defensively while he tried to gather his scattered wits. A difficult feat with that damn Chinaman laughing at him with his curious eyes veiled by his shimmering midnight hair. His perfect lips were hidden behind a sleeve of his cheongsam. Why couldn’t the man wear normal clothes? Or nothing at all?

Leon blinked at the unexpected twist in his own thoughts, and the impossible happened.

He turned even redder.

Shut up brain! Ah shit, where’s a goat horse thing to offer you a ride when you need one?

“I was not dreaming of you!” Leon shouted incensed at the direction of the conversation and the thoughts he was having- wait, no, he wasn’t having any thoughts as a result. “You were a freaking side character at the end! And not even a very interesting one at that! No subtitles, no theme music-what the hell kind of cameo are you anyway?”

“Cameo?” D frowned a bit, somewhat put off by the comparison. His nail tapped dangerously against the rim of the cup he held in his graceful hands. Leon smirked at the small sign. The young American knew what the twitching meant. The pet shop owner was debating whether or not the comment warranted endangering the completeness of his tea set.

“Yeah, a cameo. The main star was even freakier than you,” Leon reveled in what he perceived as a small victory over the other man, completely ignoring the previous half of the entire conversation. The farther behind him the thoughts he’d had were, the happier he would be.

No, there had been no fucking thoughts damn it!

Apparently the Count’s curiosity was winning over his desire to inflict pain on his rude guest, because he refrained from flinging a cup at his head. Instead he fixed a politely interested look on his face.

“Do tell,” he coaxed with a casual indifference that wasn’t fooling Leon for a bit. He had studied D too long not to be aware of his subtleties. D’s mannerisms. Not D.

…Damn.

“What do you want me to tell?” Leon jerked himself back to the conversation again.

“Tell me about this… freaky ‘main character’ that stole my place in your dreams,” D’s smile was more than a little impish. And as simply as that he had once again regained control of the conversation. Leon hated it when he did that.

“I hate it when you do that.”

“Do what?”

“Never mind. You want me to tell you about the freak then? Ok, where to start?” Leon accepted the cup that D passed to him absently, not even noticing the sugar content. “Alright, I’ve been having this weird ass dream for weeks now. Actually the dream isn’t the same exactly, now that I think about it, and our conversations are different, even if the topic is the same. It’s kinda like our routine actually!” Leon brightened at the comparison.

“Yeah, just like that! I show up and accuse you of murder, and I am going to prove you’re guilty and bring you to justice by the way” Leon interrupted himself to fiercely reaffirm this fact, ignoring D’s agreeable nod. The man was guilty as sin and he had the gall to be humoring Leon. Humoring him! Oh well, he’d get back to that later. “Then you talk circles around the subject, piss me off, and I leave. Except in my dream I usually can’t leave him so I’m stuck listening to him and he keeps offering me rides all the time.”

“Rides?” An elegant brow arched bemusedly.

“That’s the freakier than you part D. The guy who’s always there in my dream is a horse-goat type thing. I’m not sure which because his body always shifts back and forth. There have been a couple a couple of times that he kinda seemed like a dog too, but I’m not really sure with the lighting in my dream. He has red eyes. And talks. Anyways he’s always the size of a horse, and he’s always offering me a ride somewhere.”

“And you have taken him up on his offer?” D asked, coming to attention. He seemed to be somewhat concerned.

“No.” Leon gave him an ‘are you joking?’ look.

“And you haven’t asked him where he wants to take you?” D inquired absently. It was possible that the dream was a random product of Leon’s subconscious and the animals merely held a certain significance to Leon. Or it could be something more sinister. Mentally he began thumbing through a list of possibilities of what this dream specter could be. There were few animals who met the description that Leon gave. The one that D came up with left him feeling cold. Anger quickly followed, although he was careful to hide it from the perceptive human.

“Noooooo…”

“Good. That’s good. Just, don’t accept anything that he says, or climb onto his back.”

“What?” Leon stared at the slender beauty incredulously. “That’s odd. I’d expect you to be the first to encourage me to trust an animal, and now you’re telling me not to? You know what it is!”

“I do not know what it is. Not for sure.”

“Well what do you think it is?” Leon snapped impatiently.

“I have my suspicions, but I will need to research the matter more carefully. Has he ever said anything that would indicate what he could want from you?” D’s eyebrows were drawn together once more in speculation. Whatever he thought the horse-goat thing was, he wasn’t happy about it.

“No, he just always asks me if I want a ride, and if I tell him I don’t want a ride he pretty much asks me what I do want,” Leon shrugged dismissively.

“I see. And have you told him what it is that you want?”

“Noooooo…” Again Leon gave D another ‘are you joking’ look.

“I see. I will try to find some information about what I believe it is. I think perhaps I have something that will help you in the meantime.”

“Uh… ok.” But Leon was speaking to an empty room, D having already glided out of his small sitting room in search of whatever it was. He returned seconds later with something in each of his hands. Leon’s eyes flicked over the small package in his left hand before honing in on the more interesting item in his right hand. A careful look revealed that it was a slender blue-white stalk that was tipped in a bluish bud that dipped over the side as if it were wilting.

“You have got to be kidding me. Another plant D? What’s wrong with it? It’s all limp and shit.”

“There is nothing wrong with it Detective,” D replied testily, “It’s supposed to look like this. It’s called an Indian Pipe, among other things. If you keep it by you while you sleep, it will help keep your dreams at bay.” D carefully handed him the flower which Leon took with a rather dubious look.

“I think you have your legends confused. It’s a Indian dream catcher that’s supposed to keep your dreams at bay isn’t it?”

“You surprise me officer. I would never have expected you to be familiar with any Indian legends. In actuality, though, a dream catcher is meant to capture good dreams and release the bad ones so as to prevent nightmares. It will not however prevent dreams in general.”

“Oh.” Leon couldn’t think of anything to say to that so he focused on the package being held out to him instead. “And this is?” D smiled faintly.

“Chamomile.”

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Sorry there was no interaction between Leon and the ‘horse-goat’ in his dream. I miss his dream friend, so I’ll try not to take too long before I bring him back to bug Leon.

*Special Notes*

1) I doubt anyone cares but when Leon is going off about D’s crap-ness as a cameo character he is alluding to David Bowie. You may be better off not asking.

2) The Indian Pipe is a real flower, and no there is no story that it will prevent your dreams. I have a reason for choosing it as the plant D gives him, but I can’t explain it yet. In the meantime let’s play a game called pretend.

3) The dream catcher is a Lakota legend and yes it is meant only to ‘catch’ the good dreams. A source I used to double check my facts on this was this site:

http://www.cia-g.com/~gathplac/dreamcatcher_legend.htm

4) Chamomile really is a relaxing beverage. ^^