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Pebble was not great at sleeping.Most people were not, they would suggest. With phone time becoming a part of bed time, and thus bright screen lights becoming a contributor to dark, restless nights, they would assume that they were not alone in their struggles to sleep at night.That didn’t mean they weren’t trying, just like anyone else.They had pulled up YouTube, clicking on a video they saw that they knew they knew well- the “Working Through Intrusive Thoughts” episode of Sanders Sides- in an effort to give their brain something to focus on to keep their own intrusive thoughts at bay. Pulling their blankets up to keep warm, they mumbled a “goodnight” to their plushies, and closed their eyes, blissfully falling asleep, letting the exhaustion of staying up until 2am guide them to dreamland and into a semi-restful night’s slumber.That was where the regularity of the night ended.They drifted, for a while, mind settling into the cycle of REM sleep, but something edged into their subconscious-something new, and not something that was unwelcome, but certainly foreign to them; like a piece of charcoal in a waterline, it could clean it, and maybe there was a diamond inside, but you wouldn’t know, might not even recognize it, might not realize it for what it was or could be.But the first thing Pebble noticed about the charcoal-fragment of this something new was that- even still dreaming- they woke up.There was someone there with them, they could feel, but in the darkness of the space they were in, they couldn’t tell who. There was a sense about them, though, recognizable yet unfamiliar, so they pushed themselves into a sit from where they had been laying on the floor, slowly opening their eyes and looking around. There wasn’t much to see, unfortunately, it really was just a ‘space’ in any sense- an empty void, lit in all directions but dimly and far away, nothing contained in it besides abstraction and air.And, besides Pebble, one other person.Though they didn’t appear to be anyone Pebble knew, there were elements about them that Pebble had seen before, combining into somebody that they had imagined and seen interpretations of, but really never seen a solid realization of, of anything more than an idea of, until now.Wings mantled, hat atop their head, Pebble met the slitted eyes of the not-stranger, and they spoke.“Are you the Dragon Witch?”Pebble wrinkles their nose, glaring. “I’m not a child.”They push themselves to their feet, stumbling but catching their weight. Fumbling, they drop their glasses- they weren’t wearing those when they went to bed, were they?The Dragon Witch laughs again as Pebble shoves the lenses back on their face, trying to meet the witch’s gaze. There is an aura there now, though, one that is strange, something to be wary of while radiating bravery. It’s confusing, calamitous- untrustworthy and yet honorable.“You are younger than me, certainly, and there is much you are yet to learn,” The Dragon Witch states, amusement evident in their expression. “So a child you are not exactly, perhaps, but you are a child in the frame of the universe.”Pebble’s eyes are still narrowed, but they defer. “Alright, child or not, let’s get to the important question. Why am I- are we here? Did I do this? Did you?”Again, there is that mischievous look, but there is something kind behind it as they smile.“I brought you here out of necessity. I can give you something you want,” the Dragon Witch says. “But it will not come for free. It must be earned.”“I-” begins Pebble, but they cut themselves off, biting their lip. “Like what?”The Dragon Witch smiles- not malicious, but not entirely kind either, something mischievous weaving into her grin. “I cannot tell you that. You must realize it for yourself. But be vigilant, young one, I can say that much.”Pebble spins the idea around in their mind.“...Necessity?” They ask at last. “What’s the necessary part?”The Dragon Witch just shakes their head and smiles, and Pebble sighs.“You can’t say that either, huh? Can you tell me anything else?”The Dragon Witch laughs, unmocking, but still untelling, undetermined.“You must trust this. That is the first lesson you must learn.”If you asked Pebble, they likely couldn’t tell you why they did what they did next. It went against near every real-world rule, every inherent instinct, but there was something there that they had never felt in any of those real world scenes. A strength, a strong sense of adventure in the air, something pulling Pebble towards the one answer they should give.The Dragon Witch smiled, and then laughed again, deep and loud. “Well chosen, child! I knew you’d make the right choice. But remember what I said, what you need won’t come easy. And good luck! You’ll need it!”There is a hum, a song, and then they chant:“Earth and wind, bring gold inside,But let no farce befall their pride.Change what is to what is notAnd yet the same, the battle fought.”“What-?” Pebble starts, but all of a sudden they are exhausted, eyelids drooping as if weighted down, a bone-deep tiredness as if they had never fallen asleep in the first place.It’s so surreal, so strange, to be so aware of falling asleep when they already are, that Pebble is so dramatically unaware of the golden glow surrounding them, or the way they are changing. The way a pair of hands and fingernails is becoming paws and claws, the growing of a tail where there had been none before, the way they shrink as their weary eyes blink, slower and slower. They slump to the ground, breathing deep through transformed lungs.In a dream within a dream, Pebble sleeps.
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There was a lion on the couch.It wasn’t a very big lion- larger than a cub, certainly, but not fully grown- and even so, it was small for its size. If not for the fact that it was almost definitely magical, Roman would be very concerned.Not to say that he still wasn’t, a little bit.Roman was used to strange or wild creatures in the Imagination, but they rarely forayed outside of its boundaries. He’d caught a sprite on its way out the door once, stopped a rabbit as it tried to scamper into the commons, but those were occurrences that were few and far between- and certainly did not happen outside of his view entirely.He would have assumed foul play by his brother if not for the fact that if it was an Imagination creature, it was definitely from Roman’s jurisdiction. It had neat fur, a fluffy tail and mane, all of its coat clean and tidy. Even a pair of glasses sat on its nose, round frames and thick lenses, shiny and uncracked.No, this couldn’t have been Remus’ doing. So it was either an escapee- or something else entirely.Quietly, Roman snuck over to the couch where it was. It was asleep, he saw now, eyes closed and tail twitching occasionally. He was loathe to wake it up lest it bite, but he couldn’t simply have a lion on the couch- he’d have to do something.Very, very cautiously, he scooped the lion up, doing his best not to jostle it. It shifted in his arms, and Roman tensed, but it remained asleep. He let out a sigh, thinking and calculating the best way to take it to the Imagination- and then check up on his Imagination security.Roman flinched, and the lion also flinched, and then its eyes opened and it looked up at Roman.Roman set it swiftly down on instinct, having dealt with enough critters trying to bite him, and turned to face whoever had interrupted him, coming face to face with a tie and square frames. “Uhm. Hello, Logan.”“Hello, Roman,” Logan said, monotone. “Is that…your lion?”Roman looked down at his feet- he hadn’t exactly processed that he wasn’t in the Imagination, he’d been so focused on it, and he’d half expected to look and see that the lion had run away and make ruckus- but to his surprise, it was still sitting there, staring between the two of them almost-awestruck.It seemed confused, though, when Logan spoke, and it turned in a circle, looking at itself. Like a dog, almost, chasing its tail, but- slower. Deliberate. When it had done a full turn, though, it stumbled, dizzy, and then proceeded to collapse onto the floor.“Ah!” Roman exclaimed, scooping it back up, holding it like a child- it seemed dazed, limbs shaking a little, and not protesting the cradle it was in. “No, it’s not mine, I don’t think- I found it on the couch, and I was going to take it back to the Imagination, but- is it okay? What happened?”Logan twined his fingers together, considering. “I- ahem, I don’t know much about lion healthcare, admittedly. But I’m sure I could do some research. You...say it’s from the Imagination, though?”“I think?” Roman said, petting the lion, who seemed to be snapping out of the haze. “I just found it on the couch. I’m not sure where else it would have come from, but- things don’t usually get out of the Imagination. Especially without me noticing it.” He held the lion closer, considering for a moment. “And it…doesn’t feel like something from the Imagination. Usually- I can feel my energy in whatever’s from there, like it's a part of me.” He looked consideringly at the lion in his hold, who was looking equally thoughtfully back at him. “This little guy…doesn’t.’“Hm.” Logan said. “It is indeed peculiar. Maybe we should refrain from taking it to the Imagination, at least for now. Let it exist in the mindscape for a while and see if we can figure out where it came from- I’m not sure how one cares for a lion, exactly, but…we shouldn’t put it somewhere where it doesn’t belong.” He let the lion sniff his hand, staring at it as if he might be able to understand it if he looked intently enough. The lion bumped his hand with its nose, and Logan bit his lip.“I will look into it.” Logan said.⭐️ This was also, quite frankly, scary as heck.Pebble was interacting with the sides! Pebble was being held by Roman Sanders, the prince of creativity himself, and also being pet by Logan Logic Sanders, and also in the mindscape, from Sanders Sides. Two of whom were interacting with Pebble right now. So cool.They’d gotten dizzy at the sight of themselves, and they were pretty sure Roman thought they were sick now, and also that they’d come from the Imagination. Neither of those things were true, but Pebble was a lion, and not capable of normal human speech, so they couldn’t really explain that to him.Pebble tried to get a feel for their limbs- their legs felt shorter, and there was a distinct lack of thumbs on their hands- well, paws now, they supposed. Searching their senses for them, they found also a pair of ears on the top of their head- that would take some getting used to- and, on further introspection, a tail- they had a tail, this was so cool-Roman cooed above them, and then they were being moved, sat on someone’s lap. Why were they crying? The tail was cool! But the legs were weird, and so were the ears, and they would probably be able to figure it out but there was just so much new and they missed being person-shaped-“Hey, hey,” Roman said, worried. “What’s wrong, buddy?”Pebble found all they could make was a growl, and started crying further.“I wasn’t aware lions could do that.” Logan said, distantly.“Me either,” Roman said, trying to pet it comfortingly, but he had never tried comforting a lion before.“It’s okay, little guy,” Roman said, and distantly Pebble was aware of more footsteps in the room, clunky and clumsy down the stairs, but they were reaching for their human form, trying to find their tongue and limbs and real form-And then Pebble woke up.
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Pebble woke up in a cold sweat.Memories of being a lion shot to the surface, and they patted themselves down anxiously, relieved to see that they were themselves again, in their own bed, human and whole.They rolled over and grabbed their phone- the video had long since stopped playing, but the thumbnail remained on the screen, and Pebble startled at the familiar faces, fresh in their mind. Had they really been inside the mindscape?They sighed, collapsing back onto their pillow. It might have just been a really weird dream.They decided to table it until later, and threw their arm over their eyes, falling back to sleep.It was a few days later when it occurred again.Pebble had tried to put the whole being a lion and meeting the sides thing out of their mind, and being more or less successful, opted not to think about it too much.That is, until they found themself asleep and in a lion’s body again.And, well, under the mindscape’s couch.“I just think it’s a bit out there,” a familiar voice said. “You know I have issues with bars.”“Come on, Lavender Frown.” another one retorted. “It’s a reputable establishment, with people we know. It’ll be okay.”The first of the two- it must have been Virgil, by the nickname- huffed. “I’ll think about it, okay?”Pebble heard the sound of someone sinking out, and then someone- Roman, Pebble noticed from the boots- sat down on the couch above them.“That could have been better,” Roman said to himself. Quietly, Pebble crept out from under the couch, sitting and looking up at Roman in a way they hoped conveyed kindness.“It’s you!” Roman exclaimed as he noticed them. One hand came to pet Pebble, and Roman laughed. “We thought maybe you were a loose daydream or something, since you didn’t reappear. But I suppose you were off doing lion things, huh?”Pebble snorted at the implication, but allowed Roman to pet them.“Logan figured you weren’t from the Imagination, but wasn’t sure where else you would have come from.” Roman said, ruffling their fur and withdrawing his hand. “I suppose you can’t really tell us, can you?”Pebble opened their mouth, but when all that came out was a yip, they growled at the noise. It was hard to communicate without human limbs or vocal chords. They opted instead to jump onto the couch next to Roman, looking at him inquisitively and trying for beaming their thoughts into Roman’s brain.It didn’t work, obviously.“...Are we having a staring contest?’ Roman replied after a few seconds.“Okay, I think we can go to the bar. If, and only if, we bring pepper spray, a pocket kn- where did you get a lion?” Virgil said, appearing next to the couch.“I’m not sure.” Roman replied. “They appeared a few days ago for a few minutes, but then they disappeared, so I thought they might have been a daydream. But I guess not, since they’re back.”“Huh,” Virgil said. “It…is it dangerous?”“I don’t think so,” Roman said. Pebble nodded.Virgil continued to squint at them suspiciously, but relented when Pebble tilted their head at him. “Whatever.” Virgil said, walking away. “As long as it doesn’t bite me or tear up my stuff.”Roman looked at Pebble, and Pebble nodded again, laying down on the couch. The four legs was odd, sure, but now that they’d been a lion once and knew they could turn back, it was a little less scary. And the Dragon Witch- it had been them that put Pebble here as a lion, and they’d said something about it being a necessity. Pebble figured, well, they could try to stick around this time. They couldn’t deny that it was pretty epic meeting the sides for real.
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The lion-ing continued on for a while.When Pebble woke up in the morning, they sunk out of the mindscape, and when they fell asleep at night, they were a lion in a Florida man’s imaginary living room.They met most of the sides on their visits- Patton was overjoyed to find out that they were hypoallergenic, Virgil warmed up to them after they let him pet them during a panic attack, and Janus, though not into the idea of a lion friend so much as the others, gave them a fond smile from wherever he was sitting or standing, and Remus-Well, they hadn’t actually met Remus yet. Pebble, with enough intrusive thoughts of their own, was fine with that. Remus, however, who enjoyed nothing more than causing problems on purpose, was not.Pebble was lying on the couch, watching Roman sketch out ideas for a hypothetical video as he, Patton, Logan and Virgil watched a nature documentary, when a grating voice entered their ears and made them shudder. “Aw, there’s the guy I’ve been hearing about! Y’know, Roman, if you still don’t know where they come from, we could try dissecting them and seeing if we get any clues.”Pebble growled on instinct as Remus approached, and Roman shielded them from Remus with his arm, scowling at his brother. “We won’t be doing that, Remus. And you’re blocking the screen.”“You’re not even watching it!” Remus rolled his eyes, moving to pet Pebble, but Roman blocked him. Remus rolled his eyes, scoffing. “I’m kidding! You’re no fun, I won’t hurt it- ow!”As he spoke, Remus had managed to reach past his brother’s arm, almost touching the top of Pebble’s head. Remus’s burst of speed in getting past his brother might have been quick, but Pebble- or, rather, the instincts instilled in them in this lion form- were faster. Remus had been coming at them quick and *frightening,* and the lion brain moved to what lions are wont to do in self-defense- bite.Pebble drew away quickly, hissing in lion tongue, but halted when they saw the room staring at them. Roman had a look of shock on his features, hand moved far out of Pebble’s range. Remus held his injured hand in his free one, a little bit of blood creeping out from between his fingers. Pebble flinched at the sight. The sides who had been watching the movie turned away from the still-rolling television to stare at them with a look- concern, fear, *judgment,*Embarrassed, and more than that, afraid, Pebble jumped from the couch and ran as far as their lion legs would take them, into the first hiding spot they saw- an open door, with a small pile of clothing on the floor inside, which they quickly burrowed under. Biting their tongue to keep their *stupid, stupid, why a lion, why’d they get so comfortable in this weird, not-their-own-form* vocal chords from making any unexpected noise, they curled up into a ball and hoped nobody noticed them. The sides had all been in the living room, right?Pebble heard a soft click, and then a sigh.“Are you going to come out, or are you planning on staying in my laundry basket forever?”Pebble folded themselves in, trying to curl in as small as possible in the hopes that Janus might forget they were there, or take pity on them and pretend they weren’t hiding in his laundry, or something, Pebble was panicking and also they bit a guy, cut them some slack. Janus did none of the above, instead walking back to his desk- Pebble could tell from the sound of the chair’s wheels squeaking. Janus sat down, moved something that sounded like paper, and clicked his tongue.“I’m really not sure why you’re hiding in my laundry,” Janus said nonchalantly, “but I am fairly sure you’re *hiding,* and given you’ve decided to involve me in it, you’ll have to forgive me for being curious.”Janus flipped through a book, and Pebble poked their head out from the pile. Janus didn’t seem mad- and Janus was a heavy advocate for self-preservation. Perhaps, potentially, he would understand.Pebble crept out from the pile, shaking a stray sock off of their back. Quietly, with their head dipped, they moved over to Janus, pawing at his shoe.Janus looked at them, closing the big novel he’d been reading and setting it on the desk. “Yes? What’s got you running from the big, scary light sides, hm?”Pebble took a deep breath, trying to mime. Janus squinted at them, first in suspicion, then in contemplation, trying to understand the charades.“Well-uh.” Janus began. Pebble moved a paw over their snout, imitating a mustache. “Remus?” Janus questioned.Pebble nodded, and then opened and closed their jaws shamefully. They looked at Janus shamefully, trying to convey the message, but still embarrassed about it. And worried about Janus’s reaction.Janus’s eyes widened a little bit, but he kept it under control, to Pebble’s hopeful gaze. “You bit Remus?”Janus leaned on his hand, Pebble scratching at the rug anxiously. “That’s not so bad,” Janus said. “I’m sure Remus had it coming, and frankly, I’m surprised he hasn’t been bitten by one of us yet. He’s such a pain sometimes, you know?”Sitting down on the rug, Pebble’s shoulder’s lowered in relief. Janus leaned forward, petting them tentatively.Pebble placed a hand on his knee, appreciative of the reassurance, but still feeling ashamed about something. They weren’t really a lion, and they’d been getting a little comfortable in what they felt was a lie.Janus- Janus should know the truth. Pebble wanted to tell them.Motioning towards Janus, Pebble stood on their hind legs the best that they could. They moved their paw back and forth, stumbling a little. They leaned forward onto Janus’s leg again, lion paws sitting on his shoe.“You- me?” Janus questioned. “You’re- uhm. Person?”Pebble nodded. Janus blinked at them. “You’re a person.”Pebble nodded, again, more enthusiastically this time. Janus sighed. “Alright, we can figure that out later. Perhaps let’s work on one problem at a time?”Pebble tried to bob their head one more time to agree, but they found themselves sinking out, waking up in the real world. Janus jolted a little, having not seen them sink out before, but before Pebble could try to explain, they were back in their bed at home in their own body.
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When Pebble slept again, they expected to be back in the mindscape, ready to explain themselves to Janus and the others. Instead, now, they sleep-woke in the starlight aether again, the Dragon Witch floating in front of them, picking at their nails.“Oh, you’re awake,” they said after a second, noticing Pebble there. “Welcome back to my realm.”“Urgh,” Pebble said, pushing themself of the ground. “What do you want from me, Dragon Witch?”The Dragon Witch set their feet on the ground, looking into Pebble’s eyes. “I *want* you to face your issues,” they said, flicking Pebble’s nose. “Biting Remus as you did is a start, but you’re not facing the *problem.*”“What problem-?” Pebble began, but then a shadow flew out from their forehead, dark and wispy, curling dangerously like a snake-Pebble saw in front of them, their fists curling, someone they had invented long ago. The shadow stood, limbs of smoke forming before their eyes. Even before they’d seen the Sanders Sides episode with Remus, they’d try to deal with their own intrusive thoughts by giving them a form to blame.Pebble snarled, not unlike a lion even now- and the shadow snarled back, sharp teeth of a moray glinting even in the low light.“*Lee.*” Pebble snapped. “Too cowardly to stay in my mind where you belong?”“You’re the coward for not facing me,” Lee said, two eels made of shadow appearing from their essence. “Didn’t you *learn* anything from that Sanders Sides episode?”“Don’t talk to me about learning!” Pebble shouted, “you should have learned to stay away!”“While this is a wonderful conversation,” the Dragon Witch said sarcastically, “it is ultimately unhelpful, and also not what I had in mind.”“How’s this for unhelpful!” Pebble said, flipping Lee off, but then they started to feel sleepy again, mind entering back into the mind-scape and body becoming that of a lion cub.They tried to shoot a glare at the Dragon Witch and Lee, but the transformation overcame them, and then they were awake on the mindscape floor, shadows bouncing on the walls and taunting them with reflections of a laugh and moray eel fangs.“-and then they told me they were a person. Stuck as lion via some magic, I assume. Though, I’m not sure how they got here.” Janus explained in the other room. Pebble followed the sound of the voice, scared of what they might think of the whole biting-Remus thing, but more occupied in running from the shadows in the hallway.Sliding into view, they hopped onto the coffee table in the middle of the side’s meeting, interrupting them all. Wild eyes looked at each side in turn, even Remus, already healed- Pebble would take Remus any day over *Lee.*Roman looked back at them with concern- all the sides did, but Roman had made himself eye level with Pebble, much smaller than all of them in this form, even standing on the table.“It’s okay,” Roman said. “I think you shocked us all a little, but you were frightened. I understand- believe me, being Remus’s brother, I’ve had my own fights with him. Just, maybe don’t do it again?”Pebble nodded, looking anxiously over their shoulder.“Okay,” “are you in trouble? What’s going on, little guy.”On cue, the lights flickered, and from the shadows cast on the wall, a leg found its footing on the mindscape floor. Following it was another leg, then a torso, and then one full arm and one missing from the elbow down. The body led up into face of sharp teeth, and smoke hair, winding around Lee’s face and their dark grin.“...Ah.” Roman said, looking at the shadow. “I don’t suppose we could be, uhm, friends?”Lee grinned further, their one hand becoming a claw, and the lights went off.Pebble woke up in a dream in a dream with a voice.They were still stuck in their lion form, but when they went to growl at the darkness, a shout came out instead. “Get out of my head!”A villainous laugh, and then a shape coming out of the darkness, Lee stepping into view. In Pebble’s lion form, Lee loomed over them.“This isn’t your head,” Lee said, “It’s poor Thomas’s. Such a shame one of his fans couldn’t deal with their own intrusive thoughts well enough- now it’ll be his problem, too. I think Remus will be less of a fan favorite with *my* ideas.”Pebble flinched, hard. Their own intrusive thoughts felt a lot harder to deal with than Remus’s suggestions of licking dolphins and breaking YouTube nudity restrictions and even dissecting lions.“Back off, Lee!” Pebble shouted, gathering all their strength to step up. “You’re *my* intrusive thoughts, and I’m not letting you hurt anyone else.”“Such big words from someone who has chosen to avoid me rather than fend me off,” Lee retorted. “You really think you have what it takes to stop me.”“I have exactly what it takes,” Pebble replied, puffing their chest out. “You’re *my* fears. You’re a representation of what *I* don’t want to be.” Their claws tangled in the carpet. “And *I’m* not gonna let you do this, you jerk!”Lee just snarled haughtily.“Such harsh words.” They said. “But I suspect your bark is much worse than your bite, Pebble.”“You can sure suspect that if you want,” they said, “but I think you’ll find it’s not true!”Thinking quick, they ran around Lee’s leg, and then back in front of them, leading their attention and giving Pebble just enough time to sink their teeth into the shadow form.Lee let out an inhuman screech, bits of shadow tearing away from them. Pebble held on with fang and fire, not letting go of their inner enemy even while ribbons of shadow rippled out of the wound and spiraled through the room. The bits of void lept away from Lee, then back to Lee’s center, growing like a black hole, their self unraveling as Pebble felt all of their own strength and adrenaline rush through them. A noise like static filled the air, then became music. It grew in volume and timbre until the last bit of ribbon had fell into the core.Then, Pebble snarling at the abyss, it burst. Light filled the room again, surrounding Pebble as their lion form became their human one, and Lee had been triumphed over.“Ew,” Pebble groaned. “I bit them, gross.”“That was awesome!” Roman said. The sides had been standing there watching, but in the dark, Lee not letting them interfere. Now, with Pebble in control of their own mind, they gathered around to greet them.“It’s nice to meet you properly,” Roman said, offering them a hand, which Pebble took, and Roman pulled them into a hug. “That was very brave of you, you know?”“Very,” Janus added, Logan and Patton nodding. “It’s rather hard to stand up to your own mind like that. But sometimes, it’s what you *need* to keep yourself safe.”“And more importantly, that weird guy insulted me, and you showed them up.” Remus said.Everyone looked at him with various degrees of entertainment. “What! It’s a compliment, right? I said to be nice!”Pebble, from a annoyed Roman’s shoulder, laughed. ‘Thank you, Remus. Everyone.” Pebble said. “I’m sorry I bit you.”Remus waved them off. “You were training for your brain confrontation ,it’s whatever. I get bit in the Imagination plenty, you’re fineee.”Pebble laughed. Virgil gave them a little high five, smiling. “So what’s your name, man, anyways?”Pebble smiled at all of them. “Pebble.”“Pebble.” Roman repeated. “It’s been great having you here. Would you still come back to visit, even though you’ve faced your fears?”Pebble nodded, proud and fierce. Everyone smiled back at them, happy to have a new friend.And when Pebble woke up, they found their mind feeling brave.