Page 13 of Found In Destruction

I was too hard on her when we lived in New York. No wonder she found it so easy to be mad at me. I was an asshole—an emotionally closed off perfectionist that pushed her to her limits because I wanted what I thought was best for her.

I took her hand and pushed anticipation through her. The kind you’d feel before going to an amusement park or seeing a concert. I promised her I wouldn’t use this power on her, but desperate times called for desperate measures. Maybe she’d be so excited that the anticipation would wake her up…

The monitor showed her heart rate rising, but nothing else. She was still, expressionless, as if she was in a deep sleep. I was running out of options, getting more discouraged by the minute. After months of separation, she was right here, and I couldn’t do anything about it. I thought back to the supposedfairy talesthe human world told its children—obviously not knowing they were real events—the ones Diana would have heard growing up. One of them involved a prince kissing a woman and waking her up, and at this point I felt desperate enough to try anything.

It's worth a shot.

I bent over and kissed her lips, making sure to give her a good, solid kiss. But nothing happened.

“Yeah, I tried that earlier today—it didn’t work,” Bash commented, revealing himself from the shadows in the corner of the room. “But it’s veryGrimmof you to try.”

“How long have you been lurking there?”

“Long enough.” He sat in one of the chairs by her bedside. “I’m not looking forward to this. Her psyche is going to be a mess.”

“It’s our fault if it is,” I chastised us both.

Before Bash could reply, Lucifer, Michael, and Oisín arrived, engrossed in their own conversation.

“We know other incubi. Why can’t they come in and try?” Oisín groused, shooting Bash a dirty look.

“No, I don’t trust anyone else to do it,” Lucifer said with finality, shutting the conversation down. He swung his attention to Bash. “I’m sure you’re well aware that if Oisín and I even geta hint of you fucking around where you shouldn’t or altering her psyche in anyway, you’ll regret it?”

“I wouldn’t,” Bash gritted out.

Hopefully we would find a way to bring her back and this wasn’t an epic mistake.

6

BASH

Igingerly moved Diana to the side of her bed, giving myself room to lie next to her as I held her hand. Oisín took my free hand, with Lucifer taking his other hand.

I took a deep breath, trying to cleanse myself of the anger I felt at having my integrity questioned. Yes, I claimed her without her permission—and I withheld information from her that I now realized was harmful—but I would never use my powers to alter her mind in any way. I didn’t even think my powers could do that Diana’s magic was getting stronger every day, and it would soon surpass my own, if it hadn’t already.

I’d remind Oisín and Lucifer of that, but I didn’t feel like getting my ass handed to me by the ginger giant, my pride still bruised from the last time. They should be cautious of Desmond, because his emotional manipulation was much more dangerous than my dreamweaving.

“Are we going to sit here all day?” Oisín asked, huffing in impatience.

“You can always stay behind if you don’t want to wait. The mind is a very delicate, fickle thing, and given Diana’scircumstances, I’m being extra cautious,” I replied, exasperated with his attitude.

“Let Bash work,” Lucifer interjected, giving his son an admonishing glare.

I took a few deeper breaths and got to work. Tapping into her psyche, I envisioned the locks of her mental shields. It had always been protected since Az taught her how to form them, but I felt how much more advanced they were compared to the ones she had previously. The physical manifestation of her mind was dimly lit, with dark undertones instead of the bright colors I normally found. Everything was foggy, and I could barely see past my own face. The whole atmosphere made me apprehensive—I had spent more time in Diana’s mind than she could imagine, but it felt as if I barely knew this place.

Eventually, I was able to focus enough to see her mental shields. Hopefully getting past them would allow me to see something that could help us bring her back. Even in her state, the layers of her protections were still mostly intact. My magic slowly weaved its way through her defenses, finding the weak spots between the layers and seeping in, like sand through a sieve. My magic met some resistance when I got to the final line of defense, but I patiently kept unraveling her protections and broke through it.

Diana’s psyche was pitch black—pure darkness as far as the eye could see. Lucifer created a ball of light that floated several feet above us, but all it did was illuminate the stark nothingness that was so unlike the dreamscapes I’d crashed before.

“I take it from the look on your face this isn’t normal?” he asked me.

“No. Even when Diana isn’t dreaming, her psyche still has color or some kind of vibe at the minimum. Sometimes it’s warm tones, like tie-dye. Other times it resembles a field of lavender,or she’s wrapped in cozy blankets, reading a book. It’s never been empty like this.”

“What can we do while we’re here to fix it?” Oisín gazed out into the void like he may have missed something. I shrug, taking a minute to think because I never experienced this before in anyone’s psyche.

“We have to find a way to reach her—coax her psyche out of hiding,” I suggested.

“Diana!” He shouted. Nothing happened.

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