Dreaming

Sleeping as Aura was an entirely different experience, there was no blank state of unconsciousness, no my body simply shut down, never to move so much as a muscle. I could see and hear, but not feel, taste or touch, it was like on of those out of body experiences described in fictions where the dead would rise up to heaven. I didn't rise that far, I only hovered a short few centimeters above my body. I could even hear myself breathing, through my breaths came only in very long intervals, it must have been minutes between breaths.

I will never know why I didn't panic, but in that state nothing could really touch me. After what must have been a few hours of staring at my own body and my perfectly clean room, my attention drifted to the outside world and my immaterial self moved trough the walls of the house to the top of the roof. It seemed like I had missed a few critters, because there where quite a few crawly things in and between the aged roof beams. I spent a few moments above the house, but the few wasn't that great and I decided to go higher, it wasn't like I had anything else to do and there was nothing I could do before my body was woken up again.

The world is different from above. Everything is smaller and less impactful. The same tall and mighty buildings are nothing more than tiny squares, partially illuminated by the weak light of the setting sun. I spent a few moments in awe of the world and the beauty of life, before a seagull passed right trough me. I didn't really hurt, but it was weird to see something pass trough the space I should have occupied and the seagull didn't seem to like it either, because it gave of an astonished squeak, lost control of its flight and plummeted a few meters before catching itself. It left pretty fast after that and I was free to return to my state of wonder.

But I didn't do so, the seagull had reminded my that I was actually flying, flying freely under my own power. All thoughts about the world and my body forgotten I spent my time testing my flying speed, very fast, and diving after and alongside seagulls. It is impossible to describe the feeling of free flight to anyone who has not experienced it themselves and while I couldn't fell the wind I could enjoy the twisting and turning trough a world full of new and exciting things. When the sun went down completely my vision didn't diminish, so I followed the seagulls to their nests in the boat graveyard.

And when they went to sleep I dove into the ocean to see the sea full of life despite the late hour. I don't think there has ever been anyone as close to a school of fish, I spent my time gliding between them. Watched how the fish in the center floated in sleep while the rest danced in everchanging patterns. Watched as the dove apart in fright as a sea turtle swam right trough them and how they found themselves again to continue their eternal dance.

I jumped between sea sponges, pretended to ride on the backs of bigger fish and turtles, found eels in their secret caves, explored the depths of caves and canyons, wondered over the beauty of peals and the shimmering colors of fish scales in the changing light and tried to tickle the biggest sharks I could find. I didn't grow tired, time simply passed and I enjoyed the freedom of moving wherever I pleased. But in the end I could only watch, I couldn't touch, I couldn't participate in this dance of life and when the time came I simply left, I knew where my body was, so I followed it back, out of the sea, trough the streets, walls and buildings of Brockton Bay, only to end up starting at my blond voluptuously bodacious form, in the bed of my room.

A room which had already accumulated a little bit of dust. Nothing unusual for such an old house, but nether the less a lot of time had passed and nobody had noticed, not even my Dad. I wondered for a moment, could I even wake up, would a kiss be enough, where there even any princess left, there certainly weren't any in the US and I didn't think I would like to be kissed by an old British guy. How would I even get him to this city, how would I even tell anyone to get me a prince, it wasn't like I had told anyone. I hadn't even known about it and know I was stuck unable to tell anyone. My only hope was my Dad, but he didn't know either and he certainly hadn't opened my door in the last few days, otherwise my changes in looks and body wouldn't have escaped his notice. Even he in his state wouldn't have missed those mountains on my chest, it was my own body and I couldn't even miss them. That's how cartoonishly massive they looked. Bra shopping would be a nightmare, these things where at least a double D.

But why the hell was I thinking about my breast so much, was it only because I had been teased so much in middle school and Emma's had been so much bigger, maybe I had bigger body image issues than I thought, having a model for a friend could do that to you. And all of those new forms, which looked much better and more beautiful than the original would only compound the issue.

Why was I even thinking about that, I had more important things to do. I was imprisoned in an eternal sleep from which only a prince could wake me, while princes where in short supply and nobody even knew about my imprisonment yet. I had to force Dad to notice me and inform someone to do something. Maybe there was a parahuman out there who could do something.

But step one was to find my Dad. He wasn't on the ground floor, in the cellar, in the bathroom or in the attic. Thankfully my current state dulled my emotions and memories, which allowed me to gather enough will power to fly through the door to my parents, no my Dad's bedroom. He wasn't there either, he was probably at work right now, which I would have known if I had bothered to look at any of the watches inside the house. The room I had entered was dirty, not horrible so, but you could see the signs of neglect and compared to the rest of the house it was a pigsty. Dirty clothes strewn on the floor, with a shine on dust on the wally and cupboards, multiple of which looked like they hadn't been opened in months. It was a room full of sadness and the memory of a past long gone. My mothers things hadn't even been moved, they still hung inside the closets, crowded the mirror cabinet and filled the walls. If it had not been for the dirt and dust it would look like a normal bedroom of a married couple.

While I could deal with going inside, now that I did not find what I had come for, I couldn't deal with the memories invoked by the sight. So I fled the room, the floor, the house and went on a quest to find a distraction for my thoughts. And what better distraction than the only other people in the world who had been nice to me. That was how I found myself in front of the Baptist church. Something about watching other people, especially nuns, cook was very relaxing. Watching the smooth movements, listening to the bubbling soups and sadly not being able to smell the food, calmed me enough to think about my next steps.

Trying to find my Dad right now was pointless, he would return home eventually and only there could I try to unnerve him enough to go looking into my room. I still had at least a few hours and it might be a good idea to check up on the Sisters while nobody else could notice me.

Checking up on Nuns proved to be very easy, most of them where busy in the kitchen or the small gardens and non of them seemed stressed or hurt. They looked a little more alert than what I was used to, but I couldn't notice anything bad, which meant they were just mindful instead of scared.

I couldn't find Sister Magret anywhere so I searched her quarters and found her at her desk, deep into writing and calculation balance sheets. Those weren't your average tax calculation sheets, but detailed statistics about the population of Brockton Bay. From numbers of permanently employed, part-time employed and jobless, to crime statistics in certain neighborhoods, to the amount of homeless and social cases within districts. It looked pretty grim to me, almost half of the population was permanently or intermittently reliant on charity, while almost a quarter of the population was permanently unemployed.

The amount of crime and drug consumption was probably an indication that those numbers where only inflated by the presence of capes, while the majority of gang members were probably an indication just how many people were so poor they had to survive by any means. The amount of sane human beings who joined groups like the Merchants and Teeth without being forces was insignificant besides the number of people driven to desperation to survive. In the past Dad had always complained that the PRT wasn't doing anything significant to combat crime and here I had proof. The situation in Brockton Bay had been steadily growing worse since Leviathan appeared and the heroes only increased the amount of collateral damage, while doing almost nothing to actually combat crime. The last major villain to have been beaten by a heroic group had been Marquis and this had been before New Wave was born.

How I knew to read statistics, combine the knowledge with overheard conversations and random newspaper articles, extrapolate concrete strategies and analyze the past 20 years of the criminal and social development in Brockton Bay was just part of the course of being a princess. Everyone who had my education could have done the same. It was just really tiring to think about. I didn't really understand why Snow and Ella hadn't been taught as such.

This, the memories of things I had never leaned, but still knew. The unwavering confidence and the skill of an experienced ruler where some of the things I felt really vexed by. I as Taylor had never known those things. Snow and Ella had also had less than ideal upbringing and while they had some skills and talents I as Taylor did not, they were all things I could have realistically gained during a normal upbringing. Reading people, ruling people wasn't something I had ever contemplated and I was really unnerved by the casual acceptance of my right and prerogative to rule.

That right was just part of Aura, just like cooking and cleaning was a part of Snow, while Ella could be separated from dancing to her own tune. Ella is strong willed and gives no quarters, Snow is empathic and loves taking care of others and Aura rules, when she isn't sleepy. All of them are me and I am them. There is no separating us, and while there was what I think of as a core, a part of Taylor not swallowed by darkness, the form by body takes has a major impact on my thoughts and feelings. I can't stop it and I am not willing to even try, I would not have survived as Taylor.

While I am ruminating on the implication of multiple personalities being forces to coexist, Sister Magret has finished her business and is now praying to god. I should have left the moment I noticed, praying was a private thing, but when I was just about to leave she mentioned my name.

"... protect Taylor, she has lost her way and needs your guidance. Guide her like you lead Moses to the right path. She is your child as we all are your children."

I left there but it was nice to know that she still thought about me, even trough I had disappeared after making trouble for her and she hadn't know me for more than a week. It rankled a little that she had called me a child of god, I would never accept any authority that did not use his power to protect and nurture their subjects and if that god was really almighty and saw us all humans as his children, then we was doing an abysmal job at the protecting and nurturing part of his responsibilities. The Endbringers aren't a test or punishment, they are killing innocents and guilty alike.

I spent another few hours just floating around the church, listening to the different conversations of nuns and homeless alike. I even found a few gang members which had been sent to find me, not me Snow the cook, but me Snow the unearthly beautiful girl wandering through gang territory like I didn't know the meaning of fear. How and when I had even passed into all the different gang territories was a mystery to me, some of them where on the other side of the city. there was clearly more going on than me as Snow being directionally challenged.

I learned more about the situation in the city and the different gang territories in those minutes than I had ever known, it always surprises me how much people gossip about things they really shouldn't talk about, trough most people didn't consider being overheard by a ghost a viable scenario. How wrong they were.

I wasn't really used to being talked about, but my "best eggs in the world" had left an impression and Snow wasn't the only one. Apparently there had been someone who had filmed me and John dancing at the mall and the video had gone viral on PHO. Theories were running rampant, but because there hadn't been a second sighting most thought me from out of town. I would have to be careful about going around as Ella.

When the last rays of the sun finally decided to give in to the darkness, I made my way home in hopes finding my Dad.