The In Between - 7. The In Between

07 ~The In Between~

Brandon opened his eyes.

At first he saw nothing but darkness, which frightened him. Then the shades of gray began to fall from his vision and he could take in his surroundings.

It was the in between. Just like he had seen in his dreams and Charion, except everything was clearer and well defined, pulsing with life and color. Hell, even the air tasted different. Brandon took a deep breath, and then let it out.

He felt a weight on him, and looking down he saw that Jordan was still wrapped around him, so he untangled himself and gave Jordan a little nudge. "Hey, blue eyes, we did it! Check it out."

Jordan was motionless, his bright blue eyes shut, his face pale and still. A feeling of unease began to creep over Brandon and he tried to tell himself that everything was okay. "Jordan! Wake up. We did it."

Nothing, no response. Brandon gripped Jordan by the shoulder and shook him frantically, the metallic taste of panic filling his mouth as he watched the way Jordan's head flopped lifelessly on his shoulders. He felt sick and gently lowered Jordan back to the ground. He pressed his fingers against Jordan's neck, full blown panic erupting for a few moments before his fingers finally landed on a pulse. Brandon sighed with relief. It was steady and strong. Just to be sure, he checked Jordan's breathing the way he was taught in CPR, even though it wasn't really necessary; he could see the slight rise and fall of Jordan's chest every time he took a breath.

So maybe he was just still unconscious... like the way Brandon had been up until a few minutes ago. Come to think of it, he didn't even know how long they had been out. He checked his watch, but it had stopped running at the exact time they had Enabled over... Go figure. He took the watch off and shoved it in his pocket.

Well, first things first, he decided, sliding off his knapsack. He was pleased to see that it, along with their clothes, had survived the experience... He would have hated it if they had shown up here without anything, like in the Terminator movies. That would have sucked.

He stowed it at one end of the couch that was up against the wall and then crouched down next to Jordan, slipping his arms underneath his still form and, with difficulty, managed to lift him and transfer him to the couch.

"You're fucking heavy, you know," Brandon said, red faced and short of breath after his task was complete. He sat at the foot of the couch for a few moments, catching his breath. He checked his knapsack to make sure his few meager belongings were still in it, and then crossed the room to the fireplace. He stepped inside the stone structure... It was massive and the chimney quite tall. He didn't remember it being this big from the game, but a computer screen could skew some perceptions.

He felt along the wall, the darkness not helping, until he felt the notch that held the switch that would open up the stone wall. He didn't pull it though...he wasn't going to leave this room until Jordan was fucking standing up and coming through with him. He craned his neck to look up the chimney, but he could only see a tiny spark of light coming in from the outside.

He exited the fireplace and crossed the room. He approached the piano cautiously, bits and fragments from his dreams of this place pricking at his mind. He recalled seeing Leia sitting here, calmly, her fingers dancing over the keys. He lifted his hand and pressed one of the smooth ebony keys, a deep, low note resonated throughout the room. He sat down on the bench, but didn't try to play. He didn't know much about music except for the kind he liked to listen to, and he couldn't play an instrument. He could pound out Heart and Soul and Chopsticks, but that was about as far as his piano playing skills took him. He didn't even know Leia knew how to play. What else did he not know about her, did not even bother to find out before she went away?

He got up from the piano, went over to check on Jordan, and made another unsuccessful attempt to wake him. He paced the room several times, and then sat back down near the couch. God, he was bored. He should have packed his Nintendo DS or something.

Instead, he got out his sketch pad, turned to clean page, grabbed a pencil and did some sketching. He was on a third page when he heard a groan from the couch. He dropped the sketchbook and his pencil and bent over Jordan's figure.

"Jordan. Wake up, okay?"

Jordan lifted a hand up to his forehead, grimacing.

"Jordan. Can you hear me?"

Jordan nodded, still grimacing in pain. "Yeah, I hear you. Christ, my head. What happened?"

"You did it. You brought us over. We're in the in between."

Jordan rolled over and pressed his head into the couch cushion. "I think I might die."

"Don't say that," Brandon said, remembering the wild panic he felt when trying to wake Jordan up earlier.

"I'm serious," Jordan said. "You've got to get me out of here. Please."

All of Brandon's earlier concern came flooding back threefold. "What do you need? Jordan?"

Brandon pulled him back so he could see Jordan's face, which was drawn tight in pain. He was sweating and shaking, and when Brandon touched his face, Jordan flinched at the light contact. His skin was alarmingly hot.

"Okay," Brandon said. "Can you get up?"

"I don't know." Jordan finally blinked and opened his eyes, gazing blankly forward. "I can't even see you. Everything is gray."

Fuck, fuck, fuck, Brandon thought. He gathered his sketchbook and pencils up and stuffed them into his knapsack, then returned to the couch, helped Jordan up onto his feet. Jordan stumbled and leaned heavily against him, but managed to stay upright. Jordan looped an arm around Brandon's waist and leaned his head on his shoulder.

"Alright. Come on. We're leaving," Brandon promised, leading them both across the room. He didn't know why he was so excited about getting here in the first place. This room sucked. He cast one last resentful glance towards the piano before he walked into the fireplace. This was supposed to be it. The in between, where he was supposed to find Leia. And all he got was an empty room.

You're never going to find me if you don't start fucking looking.

He sighed and fumbled along the wall until his fingers hit the switch. He threw it and the wall swung back to reveal tall blades of grass, as tall as he was, filling his vision. He felt a little bit like how Alice in Wonderland might have felt after drinking from the bottle and shrinking down to a miniature size. With his knapsack on his back and his lover in his arms, he stepped through his proverbial looking glass.