Dean kept humming to himself as he felt with his heart out to the Geo Stone, dancing through the dark until his hand touched something and he smirked, "There you are. Let's see where you take me." He grabbed what he knew to be a handle and opened a door in the darkness wide, golden light filling his once dark world. Stepping out he instantly knew the place and shrugged, "I guess if there was a place to escape to this would be it." He walked among the familiar oaks and maples of his hometown, the golden light streaming through the branches until he came across a statue. Circling around it until he was on pavement, he looked again at the statue of his ancestor. The man wore oddly elaborate robes for a person of his time, golden bear head pauldrons on his shoulders and a blade lifted forward as an order to charge. "Alright, gramps. Since this is a dreamscape, why don't you lay that dream wisdom on me?"

As he was saying this, the figure from before spoke, "How were you able to walk out so easily?"

Dean sighed slighly, "Are you afraid of the dark too? I keep telling people, it isn't that bad as long as you have something to orient yourself by. Now excuse me, I'm trying to seek advice from my elders."

The figure growled, "You have no clue the shadows that chase you. You were safest there."

Dean corrected, "You mean chasing them. Whatever darkness you are worried about has nothing to do with me." The figure hesitated, the pause long enough for Dean to realize it was checking his math. "Look, you don't know me so I get it. See me with those two and it is easy to lump us together. They are family. But difference between me and them is I have thicker skin and not just physically." He turned with gentle eyes to the figure and his tone turned soft, "I've had enemies, but I've made them friends. I've had regrets but I've either resolved them or made my peace. So sit down with me and rap. Where am I?"

The figure waited a little more before grabbing the cloak of shadows they had been wearing and ripping it until they could be seen. It was a teenage boy wearing some kind of living shadow like a cape, a monochrome katana in his hand. Dean wondered if this child had a permit or license, but kept it to himself. The boy grumbled from beneath the shadows still covering his face, "This is The Silence. A realm of memory and emotion separate from the world of material and actions you came from. The beings that hunt you are not just from your memory, but beings of pure emotion trying to break your will and pull you into the void."

Dean nodded, looking for anything unusual other than the color scheme but seeing nothing. Still, it was always better to know then not. Dean sighed, "And like so many before you, you got pulled into this world at a young age and have been fighting the abnormal since."

The figure shook his head, "I'm an oddity around here. A few of us have enough of a handle on our negative emotions that we can reshape the creatures made of it to our benefit. That's how I isolated you three earlier."

Dean thought about it and shook his head, "Yeah, if that is fear of the dark it isn't gonna do anything to them, but if it is SUPPOSED to be isolation and loneliness, the only one you really trapped was probably chief. He doesn't get out much." Turning back to the statue, he closed his eyes again.

"What are you doing?"

Dean explained effortlessly, "Well, back where I'm from, I took a special rock called the Geo Stone from some villains looking for ultimate power or something. Anyway, it was crystalized hope or some crap, but ever since I've been using it to save people. Thing is, you spend enough time with something made of solidified emotion, it gets sentimental. I figure if it is calling me, it can help me. Issue is getting there. That's why I was hoping my role model would help me out."

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He turned to see the figure had left. That's fine. He was sure they were needed elsewhere. As he tried again to figure out where the Geo Stone was, he heard another voice speak to him. This one distinctly feminine. "Where am I? Where is Shawn?" He turned to see a young woman about half his mass wearing a battle suit with a familiar color scheme. While most of the attire lacked the usual tells, he saw that on her back was a scorpion embroidered in gold. Her attire having actual color told him that she was not here the same way that he was. She pointed powerfully at him, "You there! Who are you and where is Shawn?"

He blinked at her and recognized the name, "You mean the chief? I'm actually looking for him myself. How do you know him?" He motioned her to join him by the statue that she looked at with vague familiarity that he could see even through her helmet.

She coughed and explained, "He did something really dumb-"

"Yeah, but how do you know him?"

"-to try and change history and-"

"So, you are Anisa! Oh, wow. Sorry that we had to meet in another of his screw-ups but as far as mistakes go, this isn't the worst he has done." She looked at him in disbelief, so Dean explained, "He once let his evil doppelganger run the department for a week while he did some deep space recon. Turns out the whole thing was a trap, but it was just a few days out and a few back so his double didn't get TOO much done." She continued to stare and for once Dean couldn't read it past the visor. You would think spending every day in the uniform would make it easier to read cues but some people could not emote that large.

"Who are you to him? What happened?" She seemed genuinely worried, which was an odd tone for him to hear connected to the chief. It was almost nice not to be the only one anymore.

Dean sighed, "Well, I wasn't there for most of it. Basically, he became head of the Cosmic Patrol after a lot of badgering from some allies of his. Always a field commander though. He just doesn't strike me as a desk jockey." She seemed to be giving Dean her full focus in an eerie way, but he continued, "When they found me with the Geo Stone a year into the hero job, they offered me a spot in Cosmic Patrol. I accepted and things have been great since. Beat a few solar dictators, shattered a few despotic regimes. Even have an extensive list of orphanages and homeless shelters I visit often." She seemed both interested and disappointed at the same time. Realizing her real question, he cleared up, "Shawn and I grew close on a few jobs. We go drinking on the weekends and I spar with him every third tuesday on the condition that he tells me how he feels during it. I'm probably the only guy who can take a full hit from the man without shattering bone."

She asked out of genuine concern, "Did he ever talk about me?"

Dean nodded, "Yep. Often. It took a toll on him. He said he took up training rookies so that they didn't make the same mistakes as him. He snagged me for this when I was nineteen but sounds like he was a lot younger."

She nodded and seemed to think before asking two more questions back to back, "Did he ever move on with his life? And can you give me any advice?"

Dean smirked and nodded, "In the same swoop. Shawn did build a life for himself but he has always let his guilt lock him into a box. My advice, don't do that. Pipes help water flow more powerfully, but its natural state is the ocean. Don't let anyone or anything stop you from being where you are, when you are there. If you can stay in the here and now, then there isn't any mission you can't complete."

She smirked and laughed. When he went to ask her why she sighed, "When I get you out of here, you are gonna have to keep a handle on that optimism. We need it for the fight ahead." Dean looked at her with hesitation and a small amount of fear. Still, he let it slide off of him. Whatever lay ahead was gonna be there regardless. It was always better to move a mountain one step at a time. Again, he tried to commune with his ancestor, hoping the elder could find his way here through space and time and help guide him in this difficult time.