(In a sedan, in the USA)
"So, I assume that it went well?" A young man in a navy, buttoned shirt asked his brother.
"Yeah, it did, surprisingly enough," the younger of the two responded, his voice fairly muted, seeming to display a mostly reserved demeanor. "I'm surprised that I had that much blood to give… John–"
The other man chuckled as he started the car's engine. " I told you, don't mention it. Older siblings are supposed to help out their younger ones, right? Irenaeus, you wanna go eat? I got some time off for you, so we can go out."
"Sure. I can eat." Irenaeus responded, his voice not wholly disinterested. "I mean, I don't have much else going on today anyway…"
"Yes! Let's go, I'll treat you to your favorite."
"Get me a drink too… I'm gonna... just relax for a little bit. Wake me when we're home…"
Irenaeus dozed off as he and his brother were driving to the nearest fast food place, a contented and placid look on his face. With the gentle movements of the car, he had fallen asleep. Just like that.
"C-... ..nd me.."
'What did you say?' he asked, confused, hearing a mystery voice, a hint of chagrin
"Come find me, I said."
"What do you mean by that?"
The owner of the voice was revealed to be a young woman in a white robe, her voice low and even as she stared him down in his own dreamspace, her red eyes warm yet piercing as she made her way towards him, leading him to create some distance, his eyes narrowing slightly as he saw her.
"...This is the fifth time you've done this. In this month alone." Irenaeus said, his voice clipped and short as he held his head in his hands
"You're gonna see me soon. You just have to-"
"I get it. Come out and find you." Irenaeus sighed, pinching the bridge of his nose as he looked at this visitor (read: frequent interloper). "...You're not gonna introduce yourself at least? You've been inside my head for the past few months, and it's starting to get old."
The woman's smile fell, as she simply sat down in front of him, her voice only vaguely guilty as she continued boring holes into him with her eyes. "I'm sorry. I can't tell you yet. But it'll start to make sense soon."
"Is your purpose in life just to drive me mad? Like that weird winter itch I keep getting? You keep telling me to find you, but you never offer any hints."
The woman fidgeted with the hem of her robe slightly, a sheepish look on her face, causing Irenaeus to sigh as he sat down next to his tormentor.
"Can't say?"
"Yup…"
"Am I at least closer to finding you?"
Her hand inched ever closer to his, as she leaned into him subconsciously. "Yeah."
Irenaeus sighed as he noticed her attempts to get close, his body relaxing as she started to tighten her grip on his arm. "You're more clingy than you wanna let on, aren't you?"
"I'm–"
"Don't worry. I'll… try to find you," he exhaled, his voice sounding uncertain to even himself. "If I even can…"
The last thing he saw before being dragged to the world of the living was her face, lightly shocked, before turning back into a warm smile.
"..ke up. Wake up. We're home." John shook the sleeping passenger awake. "I got you your favorite, chicken fries. I was contemplating taking you to a medic or something, but I heard you snoring, so I figured that you were just tired."
Irenaeus arose and sighed as he eyed his elder brother, grabbing his own food as he followed him into the apartment. "Yeah, you could say that…" he muttered, as he quietly eyed both the drink and chicken fries, and ate one tentatively.
"Something on your mind?"
"Nah, nothing…. I mean it."
"...Alright. I'm not gonna pry." John said, his voice sounding resigned, as he dug into his own food. "One of those days?"
"Yup."
"Look, it really wasn't–"
"I know! I know… I'm not blaming myself, okay." Irenaeus said, forcing a smile onto his face. "I'm a guest here, and we're both happy I'm here. Just… thinking about a weird dream I had. That's all."
"Weird dreams?" John repeated, an eyebrow quirked
"Yeah... I don't think you should worry, though. Everything's fine." Irenaeus muttered. 'Everything's... fine.'
Later that night, he took out a journal and jotted down: "Mystery woman showed up again. Less vague than usual. At least today was normal-ish. At least I'm not dreaming of pontificating on the ethics of crossbreeding a flying giraffe with a raspberry (which we called a grapefruit for some reason) to save Jackie Chan from being sacrificed to the Lemurian god Danny DeVito. Nope. Just some random ass woman. Who keeps popping up like a spam call.
Anyways …Nobody knows about her. Still going mad. Only had the energy to get up and pretend to be normal. Nothing's changed. Still me against the world.
…The way it's always been."
[A/N: Sorry for having this disappear on y'all, I got busy with school. I hope nobody got their hopes up about this story, since I'm probably gonna underdeliver. Hopefully, I can get my shit together and release something before the next millennium, especially with FGO in its current state on JP. But I personally want y'all to keep your expectations low, so I don't inevitably disappoint you, :P. If you have any ideas, feel free to share.]