3 She Doesn't Want to Wake Up; "I Wish I Could Dream Forever..."

Eika opened her eyes, one an enchanting crimson ruby, and the other a golden black eye. Her hair was black silk with faint white strands running through it, running all the way to the floor in a mess of beauty. Her skin was slightly pink and paler than anything.

As she stared down at her hands, she felt a sense of releasing relief, a freedom that was uniquely dream-like. She never felt this way in reality. It was always cold, so very cold... but here it was warm, and safe, and all that mattered.

She looked around, her childlike curiosity motivating her to absorb everything around her, as she had only ever truly known harsh gray stones and even harsher words and intents directed towards her. It was normal to her, so much so that when others were treated by the concept known as kindness, it was abnormal and uncomfortable for her. It made her hearts ache, a feeling she didn't particularly enjoy...

She was surrounded in an emerald green flower field as gorgeous flower petals of a thousand shapes, sizes and colors blew, freed from a breeze that rustled her gorgeous hair back, revealing the red eye that was always hidden under her hair in reality. Her face twisted into an unfamiliar, crescent shape. It seemed to be an automatic body reaction that she'd picked up from seeing some children through the crack of her room.

It was an awkward, timid shape, fueled by an unfamiliar feeling that made her feel good, though that was a concept. Anything that didn't make her cry or scream was designated as 'good', anything else was bad. Her eyes and head tilted upward, staring into a blue expanse as wide as her eyes could see. They widened and the shape that was imbedded in her face grew again, wider and brighter till it hurt.

'Such marvelous sights!', she tried to think with her limited vocabulary that by observing and listening to children and others who passed the crack, she had painstakingly acquired. She could not speak, her mouth was not used to making the movements, and whenever she tried, 'bad' things happened. She didn't like the 'bad' things. They made her feel icky and sick and wrong.

The petals that surrounded her made her make an odd sound in the back of her throat, a repetition of high pitched, sweet sounds that confused her and made her stomach and chest feel funny, but she designated it as 'good'.

It was then, in finding several 'good' things, she came to a conclusion all on her lonesome: She didn't want to wake up.

It was then her favorite part came, the reason she knew what her name was and knew how to construct a 'sentence' in her mind, and why she could 'laugh' and 'smile'.

"Eika, love, you look happy today! How are you sweetie, are you okay?" Eika turned to the 'beautiful' voice, and an equally, if not more, 'gorgeous' woman appeared. Eika 'liked', no, she 'loved' the woman. She looked like her, with her elegant ruby eyes and her porcelain skin, but the similarities ended there.

Eika knew she could never be considered 'beautiful' or 'good' like this woman, who was the epitome of 'beautiful' and 'good'. She was what she would call 'perfect', a being who was 'kind' to her, the only one. Still, the shape on her face, or rather 'smile', was only wider and brighter with the woman's mere presence. She ran to her, her floor length black and white hair flying behind her as she buried herself in the woman's 'gentle' and 'sweet' arms.

"Yu-ki! Ha-.. ar yoo?! Ei-ka mi-sss-d yoo!", her voice was 'high' and 'happy' with a 'sweet', 'angel-like' quality to its 'tone'. The woman, or merely Yuki, smiled at Eika's sweetness. She felt an immeasurable amount of joy as she heard her speak to the best of her limited capabilities, however, it also hurt her heart.

The fact that Eika was a child of Satan should've ensured that she'd have the best and finest of education, but here she was, barely able to speak despite being 3 years old, an age that most Royal High Demons and High Pure Vampire children could speak fluently and without a fuss. Her heart ached as she saw they poor quality of her clothing, the bruises and the scars on her young flesh. It made her feel disappointed in Lucifer- no, Satan's treatment of her.

She knew he was grieving her death, but even so, raising his own child would be the best way to continue and be faithful to her wishes and memories. As such, Yuki, or rather Nivalis, set it upon herself to teach her darling daughter Eika how to speak, read, and write in multiple languages in this dreamscape that she would inhabit and create when Eika went to sleep.

She knew Satan had always held a soft spot for her, but as she saw her daughter ask was that blue expanse above her was, and what the petals of the flowers were, and try to speak but fail and get frustrated and ask what she was feeling and why, she realized just how much of a soft spot.

However, she still knew Satan, and she knew he valued progress, wit, charm, grace, and strength above all else. Anything that fascinated him he would study and go to great lengths to keep alive before fully understanding it. Then it was a matter of determining how beneficial it was for him and if the cost of helping and cultivating it would outweigh the interest and revenue he could take in return. If it was worth it, he would be the greatest ally. If not... the worst enemy.

He was a psychopathic genius of the highest degree, a being who even in his sleep would influence the world around him effortlessly. Though terrifying and calculative to a near godly level... my word was he the most gorgeous thing she'd ever seen in the world...

"Yu-ki? Yyy-eee Fu-a-cu Wre-do?"

Yuki, or rather Nivalis, coughed a bit and tried to forcefully dispel the blush on her face. It couldn't be helped with Satan's appearance and ability to be charming and kind. "It's nothing darling. Anyhow, it's whu-i-e. There is a 'w' and 'h' to it. Spelled 'w-h-y', remember? Now, repeat after me okay? 'Why is your face red?', is the correct way of saying it..."

And it was in this manner, through example and trial and error Nivalis taught Eika how to speak better before the dream ended. It was a happy, yet frustrating time as sometimes she struggled on finding the best way to teach her, but Eika would always respond with excellent results, clearly showcasing her natural intelligence. It was a shame it wasn't cultivated earlier, Eika was the type of girl who could soak up everything that was taught to her, recreate it, and even learn from it on her own at an incredible, bordering on ridiculous pace for a child who was akin to a baby in her knowledge.

In other words, a true genius.

As the dreams past and eventually, Eika was learned enough to speak fluently and perfectly in almost all the languages of the Supernatural. She became even better than Nivalis, something she appreciated since the time she could spend with her daughter was at its conclusion. In their last day together, it was a lazy, yet wonderful day.

The wind was soft, the grass and flowers gentle as the white clouds passed the blue expanse. Peaceful. The two of them were together as usual, and it was then Eika did something she'd seldom done before. She hugged Nivalis tightly, her small arms wrapping around her form desperately as she burrowed her head in her neck in a tender way that reminded Nivalis somewhat of how Satan once had.

What she said next broke her heart.

"I wish I could dream forever. Wanna know why?", she turned her head upward at him, her eyes filled with tears as she whispered, "Because you're safe and warm. Kinder than anyone. More beautiful than anything. More important... more wonderful than everything. I don't wanna leave you. I don't wanna stop dreaming cause you'll leave me and I want to be with you forever. So please, please..."

She curled up on her lap, holding her even tighter as she whispered in such a soft tone that Nivalis could scarcely hear her.

"Please don't go, Mama. Please..."

It was then the lock keeping Nivalis there broke, forcing her from Eika. She had to force Eika away quickly or else she would end up having to witness her own mother break apart. She knew the look that she'd have then. It would be the look that Satan- no, Lucifer had given her when he acknowledged her falsity. Instead with Eika, it was the acknowledgement that she was her mother that dispelled her.

She pointed at Eika, and with tears in her beautiful red eyes she whispered, "Dispel, and Awaken." Now it was Eika leaving, and she knew instinctively that she'd never visit here again. The thought of never seeing her mother again brought tears to her own beautiful heterochromatic eyes, and she cried out, reaching for Nivalis one last time as a swirl of petals surrounded her on all sides while she began to fade away.

"Mama! Mama don't go! Please don't go, please!"

Nivalis merely looked at her daughter, and though she sobbed, she smiled widely, her expression more gentle then anything and she called to her, "I'm sorry my love, but I can't accompany on your journey beyond. So please, please promise me. Stay alive, no matter how terrible and tough life gets, stay alive! I love you, my Eika, my final requiem. Show the world what you're made of!"

As her words ended, so many more things did as well. Eika was forced away from the first joy of her life. Her days of sunshine and unconditional love ended. Nivalis lost her connection with her daughter and her lover. She lost her only chance of seeing them again. And, she lost herself, her body finally breaking apart like a china doll who was thrown to the ground.

As she crumbled to shards and her tears escaped, she smiled one last smile that her daughter had been helped at least a little.

With this small, aching comfort, she shattered to pieces and the peaceful world of her own creation with it.

Happy, yet sad that she could not hold what was most precious to her anymore.

But... content, as she should be.

For for the first time in centuries, she could rest.

Finally...