Life has a really funny way of throwing everything at you all at once. It seems that the August before Ian turns eighteen is when he really gets everything handed to him and not in a good way either. The dreams keep occurring, bringing him more and more faces, none of which really meant anything to him aside from that of the Grover guy and Stark. Sometimes there is more of a clip of something, like the man in the apartment. One of the weirdest ones, he could swear he was in a volcano and that he caused it to explode.

Almost needless to say he begins to get less and less sleep. Or rather his sleep no longer seems to energize him. He arrives late to work more than normal and even begins to spend less time with his friends. If his parents were home more they would notice, as it is they are both away at a conference and Ian is left to face this new problem alone.

The last Saturday of the month and his last weekend before school starts, Ian is just walking home from the skate park when he once again runs into the incognito Tony Stark. Ian left the park early intending to get some extra sleep, much to his friends' disappointment. He stares at the billionaire with weary eyes and stands back just a bit. Unbidden several images seem to leap to the forefront of his mind, supplying him with faces that are associated with Stark. Ian blinks at the onslaught of information. 

"Hey," Stark doesn't seem at all surprised to see him. "Ian right? Funny to run into you again."

Ian shrugs and motions to the area around them, "It is Central Park."

The man nods and they lap into awkward silence. Someone comes up to Tony, bringing him something or another that is likely about a mission for Iron Man. Tony tries to refuse to be handed it, but she doesn't seem to care. Ian looks up at her and his breath hitches. This woman is likely in her mid-thirties, but she's without a doubt the girl from his first dream. She was so set off from the rest of the faces and yet he hasn't dreamt about her since and here she is, several years older, but still the same.

"Alicia."

The name leaps of its own accord from his lips, flying from his mouth before he's even thought it. He doesn't know where it comes from, the dreams have only faces, never names to go with them. The woman looks over and her eyes widen as they catch his. Her eyes are a stunning blue. The file slips from her hands and Tony just has time to catch it before it hits the ground.

"Percy."

When the strange guy, Grover, said that name, it didn't do anything, but to her, it sounds familiar. It sounds like it belongs to him as if he's been called it hundreds of times before.

Finally, he manages to shake his head, not denying her, but trying to clear his mind because it suddenly feels cloudy. "We've met before. I know you."

It's not a question, but a statement. She nods anyway, her eyes growing knowing and sad. "Yes, many years ago we met, but as different people. What is your name?"

"Ian Carter," he replies as if in a trance. What does she mean 'as different people? 

She bows her head slightly, crossing her hands in front of her. She suddenly seems to close herself off, drawing in away from the rest of the world as if it could hurt her. "Well, it was a pleasure to meet you once again. I must be going but if you need anything...." She hands him a small business card. It's plain aside from a name and number. Not even a company logo obscures its surface. He rubs his fingers over it. A pang of nostalgia seems to resonate within him. "Goodbye, Ian."

She turns on her heel and leaves. He watches her go. She's wearing a simple white v-neck over dark blue jeans with flip flops. Her hair his braided messily over one shoulder. She doesn't seem like someone associated with Tony Stark. In fact, Ian feels a bit drawn to her for no apparent reason.

Ian sighs and looks back at Tony. He can think about Alicia later. Right now he wants to confront this man. In their last run in Ian never mentioned his name once.

"Do you like to stalk people for a living Mr. Stark?"

Tony looks a little startled, but not at the fact that he's being accused of something, more along the lines of surprised he got caught so quickly. He then laughs and grins wide. "No, but I guess I should, shouldn't I? It's just too easy nowadays. Everyone puts everything online."

"Well, in that case, everyone in the world could do the same. It's just that most of them choose not to," Ian retorts. Tony shrugs, not at all ashamed. Before he can try to strike up more of a conversation Ian says, "I'm going to go now. I'm tired and you creep me out so..... bye." He brushed passed Tony, who is protesting to the creeped-out part. 

Ian just keeps going, hailing a taxi when he reaches the road. He's a little shaken after meeting that woman and now his head is spinning, occasionally flashing random images. Alicia, at a younger age sitting beside him in the passenger seat of a really dated Prius, though he guesses that when she was seventeen it wouldn't have been all that dated. Another of her sitting beside him on the steps of a courthouse. She's drawing Spiderman and it's a really good likeness.

He shakes off the visions as the taxi pulls up to the brownstone that is his home. His room is on the third floor, a long trek for someone about to pass out. He hits his bed, once again not bothering to climb under the covers, and is quickly asleep.

His dreams once again carry him elsewhere; a tall hill with a lone pine resting at the top. He walks up to stand beside and looks down into some strawberry fields. There is a large, three-story farmhouse off to the side, but other than that the valley is uninteresting. His gaze flickers over to the pine, which truthfully is kind of pitiful. There is a beat-up golden blanket hanging limply from its lower branches and piles of wires left around its base. The fields look so cared for, it's almost sad that the tree is left in such a state.

It feels wrong, though, as if what he is seeing isn't what he should be. He tries to walk forward, but he can't, as if he's suddenly caught in very sticky syrup and can't move forward, the only way out is to go back. He stumbles away and stares at the lonely fields. He wants to enter so badly, but it's as if some higher power is determined to keep him from doing so. It frustrates him and he doesn't know why. 

This dream isn't like the rest. The others strangely enough felt like memories, but his gut says that he's actually standing here at this very moment. However, while he's stewing in his inner turmoil, Ian is dead to the world around him. 

A menacing figure leers out at him from the shadows. It's a wonder he didn't notice, but he really was tired and his head was pounding. She creeps forward, an overly plump woman, with a growling chihuahua clasped at her hip.

"Not yet Sonny. We have to bring him back alive," she coos with an appalling smile.

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A/N I don't really have anything to say after this chapter, I feel it speaks for itself. Just please comment, vote, and follow. :)