Dream-Walking: the ability to astral project and enter someone else's dreams.

After spending half an hour trying to scrub the blood and dirt from his feathers, Josh feels good enough to walk to Tyler's room by himself, collapsing onto his bed once he makes it inside. He stares up at the ceiling, seeing remnants of glow in the dark stickers scattered around.

Tyler's room is dark but comfortable, with the blinds closed tightly and the light switch off unscrewed from the wall. Most of his stuff is what Josh would assume his mother had back in the eighties, but it suits him. He's got that outdated, rocker dude aesthetic, like if eboys existed during the same era as the Breakfast Club.

Josh sits up and brushes his hands against the soft cottony blanket that covered the mattress. He barely closes his eyes and he's already gone. The pit of his stomach sinks through the floor and Josh hears more than sees something... terrible.

He knows he's standing, but it's too dark to see where. Faint screams echo through wherever he is, accompanied by the crackle of fire and a man screaming yelling for help. It must be a warehouse, or a large empty building.

As hard as he tries to open his eyes, Josh realizes that a cold hand is obscuring his vision. A female voice whispers somewhere to his right not to look. There's something happening, but he wants to see it. He doesn't, but he does.

"Mama, what's going on?" A small voice asks beside him.

"Shh, don't look honey, don't look." She sounds weak, and scared.

Josh opens his eyes and-

"I hope you're not seeing me jacking off in bed." The voice makes him jolt upright, gasping for air.

Tyler stands at the door with two places overflowing with a heaping pile of spaghetti and meat sauce. He walks in sets the plates on his desk before falling onto the bed, his head level with Josh's waist.

"You're disgusting," Josh grumbles, trying to scoot away without him noticing. "I don't know why this keeps happening. It feels like I'm prying."

"You are, you snoop. What'd you see?"

"I don't know. I couldn't really see anything."

"I can help you." Tyler holds a hand out. "They're my memories after all."

"Are you sure? It was... bad."

"Can't be as traumatizing as your training sessions," he jokes.

"Fine, but I warned you." Josh reluctantly takes his hand and curls his fingers into the blanket.

He immediately feels the tug at the bottom of his stomach, pulling him deep into the darkness again. Even though he's still on the bed, he can feel himself standing. His eyes are closed.

"I can't see anything, but I hear it. There's a woman covering my eyes. She won't let me see."

"Wait, I remember this night." Tyler's voice echoes around in jail head like a disconnected thought.

Josh takes a deep breath, trying to keep himself in his body. "There's something wrong." As he hears the woman whisper Tyler's name, he remembers what Tyler said about his powers. He got them at VESSEL, seven years ago, in the explosion that killed dozens. What Josh is seeing was that night.

"Josh, we should stop."

"No. I want to see it, I need to."

Since Tyler couldn't see what happened, neither can he. He feels someone grab the front of his shirt, which almost jolts him out of the memory. Almost.

"I know where we are, you need to snap out of this."

"I know," Josh says, entranced. He wants to stop, but he can't. Not until he sees.

"Josh, stop-"

He pulls out of the woman's grip to see the destroyed side of a building, countless stars exposed through the torn corner, and a glowing red and blue stone. There's dead bodies everywhere but he doesn't linger on those.

The machine with the stone inside is what intrigues him. It looks just like the one from the night he got his powers. Curiously, Josh takes a step forward, hearing the woman scream. She's on the floor, and she doesn't have legs.

"Oh god, what the hell?" Josh looks to his left and sees a small boy right beside an older Tyler, who looks like he's on the verge of a panic attack. "No, I- I don't want to see this."

"Tyler-"

Suddenly, the cavernous side of the building is blanketed in red and blue light, throwing Josh across the room. He hits his head against a metal pole, feeling hot blood run down his neck, and-

And he's on the floor, with Tyler on top of him, shaking his shoulders. Josh has tears in his eyes and a scream on his lips.

"Wake up, wake the fuck up!" Tyler yells, shaking Josh hard enough to give him a concussion.

"That- that was awful," he chokes, his chest feeling like a building fell on top of him. "That woman. Was that your mom?"

The rage fades from Tyler's face and is replaced with fear. "I told you to stop. Why didn't you?"

He climbs off of Josh, breathing heavily. For some reason looks... terrified. Like he doesn't know what to do.

"I'm so sorry," Josh says, his voice coming out small. "I didn't know."

"Know what?"

"That your parents died in that first explosion."

Tyler makes a choking sound in the back of his throat and Josh catches a small reddish glow on his cheeks. "Forget it. Milly told me to bring your dinner. She thought you wouldn't want to be around a bunch of strangers right now."

Josh watches carefully as Tyler grabs the two plates and hands one to him. His hands shake when he picks up his fork.

"Tyler, if you want to talk about it-"

"Just fucking drop it!" Tyler snaps, the whites of his eyes turning black for a moment, like a reflex.

Josh flinches. "I'm sorry. I just-"

"We're not friends, don't you fucking get that? I don't fucking care about you or Tiana. The only reason I tolerate you is because Hayley has a soft spot for losers."

"Please don't scream at me." Josh can't breathe. He hates being yelled at. All he wants to do is go home.

"You're so fucking nice that it's irritating. All fluffy and soft and so weak. How could you think you could go after Alley Cat when not even Hayley could defeat him? What the hell-"

He stands and takes a step back, needing to get away from Tyler, whose face gets redder and brighter with every word he yells at him. So, he ends up in Tyler's bathroom.